Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When the free market is allowed to work, the consumer decides. I find it astounding that those opposite, particularly the Nationals, are so out of touch with their regions and their regional consumers. We currently have 180,000 electric vehicles on the road in Australia. Sales are surging, and do you know where the majority of the sales are? This might come as a surprise to the Nationals; the majority of the sales are in outer metropolitan and—wait for it—regional areas. You don't even know what your constituents want!

Australians are voting with their feet, and when it comes to EVs they have put their foot on the pedal and they are flying—away from the Liberals and the Nationals, and their ridiculous juvenile scare campaign. And fly they do; an electric vehicle will leave a V8 for dead. How do I know that? I'm an owner of an electric vehicle; in fact, I have two. I bought one of them before I entered politics. And, you know what: this car has instant power and instant torque. It's fantastic for getting away in those sticky situations when you need to just get out of trouble.

In addition to that, these cars are fun to drive and they have much lower operating costs. My previous conventional vehicle had maintenance costs of four digits and rising. With this vehicle, on the other hand, my maintenance costs came in at three digits. And the best part is that I took the car in, and two hours later the car was ready. Why? Because electric vehicles have far fewer moving parts. A conventional engine will have 2,000 moving parts, and an electric vehicle will have a fraction of that—so they are much easier to service.

What's driving the interest in electric vehicles? Sure, people are interested in climate and the environmental benefits, but what's actually driving this is the economics. People have figured out that having an electric vehicle actually saves you money. Why? Because one in three Australians have rooftop solar; it's a game changer. When you have rooftop solar, you basically harness the power of Aussie sunshine. Your operating costs to run the car are negligible—and that's what I have. My car charges once a week—once a fortnight, sometimes, depending on the range of my rooftop solar—and I just drive past those petrol stations with petrol costs of $1.80, $1.90 or sometimes $2; I just fly past them. Australians are figuring this out, and that's why sales for electric vehicles are surging. When we came to government, sales were at two per cent—moribund. Australia was being left behind by this EV revolution. Last year sales were at eight per cent, and they were at 9.6 per cent in February this year. Sales have taken off, and it is being driven by outer metropolitan consumers and regional customers. Do your research the next time you put forward an MPI, people. Do your research.

In addition to all of this, what are the health benefits? Now, I'm a doctor; I'm particularly invested in the health benefits. Australia has the highest rate of asthma in the world, and that is in large part due to the pollution and the particulate matter in our atmosphere. In reducing transport emissions, we will save 11,000 people from premature deaths. Air pollution is linked to asthma, dementia and cancer.

In addition to this, there is the small matter of climate change, the elephant in the room. In adopting vehicle efficiency standards, we will actually pull 300 million tonnes of carbon from our atmosphere by 2050. That is enormous. If we don't act on transport and if we do not decarbonise transport, which currently accounts for 20 per cent of all our emissions, transport will become the largest source of emissions in Australia. It will leave electricity generation for dead, and that's not what we want.

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