Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Hawke might be frothing about his tax cut at the end of the financial year, but I've got a simple message for working Australians: Labor are coming for your ute and your family car. That's precisely why they introduced the new fuel efficiency standard, which is just a big new tax on utes and family cars, forcing working Australians away from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles. Families, car dealerships and the car industry didn't get a voice on this one; Labor drove straight over the top of the democratic process and rammed it through parliament.

I've spoken to people across the Peel region in WA and they've told me how much this tax will hurt them. It will add thousands of dollars to their new ute or family SUV. People in my community rely on Ford Rangers and Everests, Toyota HiLuxes, Mitsubishi Outlanders, Nissan Pathfinders, and Isuzu D-MAXes and MU-Xes. These are the workhorses that get them and their families around. They need them for work—especially tradies and farmers. They need them to tow their boats and caravans.

So this isn't just a new Labor tax on utes and family cars; this is a tax on small business and our unique recreational lifestyle. It's a tax on everyday working Australians to force them from petrol and diesel cars to electric cars. It's simple: Labor's plan is to de-industrialise Australia, make us less competitive as a nation and look after their big business mates with green subsidies. Shame on you!

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