Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bennelong for the question and for his advocacy for cleaner and cheaper-to-run cars, as well as for his significant advocacy for making sure we have electric charging infrastructure in his electorate for buses.

On 16 May this parliament legislated a new vehicle efficiency standard for Australia. This is a reform that has been two decades in the making. The member the Bradfield, when he was last minister, tried but couldn't get that through his party room. He tried to put it through, but it has taken this government to actually deliver what has been on the books for two decades. The passage of this bill will mean that Australians can start to benefit from more efficient cars, whether they are petrol vehicles, hybrid vehicles, diesel vehicles or electric vehicles.

With estimated fuel savings of $95 billion in 2050, this reform has caught us up with the rest of the world. The US has had a standard in place for over 50 years, and across the world 85 per cent of new cars are covered by a vehicle efficiency standard. Australians were not getting the choice of new vehicles they deserved, and—along with Russia—we stood as one of the only advanced economies without such a standard.

I particularly want to acknowledge Toyota, Hyundai, Tesla, the Motor Trades Association of Australia, the Australian Automotive Dealer Association and the Electric Vehicle Council for their positive engagement and supportive comments. On the passage of the bill, the FCAI said that they welcomed our standard and that they have 'always recognised the importance of a government mandated CO2 standard for Australia'. The Motor Trades Association welcomed our 'workable compromise with industry through good faith negotiations', while the Automotive Dealers Association welcomed our ambitious standard which will 'significantly lower vehicle emissions'.

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