Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister claims he changed his mind on electric vehicles because of 'massive changes to technology since 2019'. The CEO of the Electric Vehicle Council says he has no idea what the Prime Minister is talking about. Why did the Prime Minister make this claim when it simply isn't true?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the opposition spokesman doesn't think there have been advances in technology since 2019, then he's clearly not keeping up to pace. What I do know is our government is not going to put up the pressure on petrol prices by changing emissions standards on fuels. We're not going to do that. It's important that the Labor Party come clean on that, otherwise that's just another sneaky tactic—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. Members on my left! Member for Sydney, I'm trying to give the Manager of Opposition Business the call. Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On direct relevance: the only issue relevant in this question is the massive changes to technology since 2019 that the Prime Minister has claimed exist, and he has to be relevant to that.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes; it was a very tight question, so the Prime Minister can't talk about alternative policies.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In particular, where I was on that day at Toyota, the advance in technologies that has occurred with hydrogen powered vehicles, particularly consumer vehicles, and in heavy industry in heavy vehicles has come forward in leaps and bounds. Now, the Leader of the Opposition says hydrogen vehicles are not EV. I just heard him say it. What does he think hydrogen does in an electric vehicle? It converts it into electricity which drives the battery. That's what an electric vehicle is. It can be powered by a charger. It can be powered by hydrogen. The Leader of the Opposition has no clue what he's talking about when it comes to these vehicles.

This might come as a bit of a shock to the Leader of the Opposition, but, in Australia, there are very large distances over which Australians travel, and, if he thinks you can have charging stations along the Outback Way, good luck to him! But what I know from talking to the transport industry, what I know from talking to the vehicle manufacturers and people like Dr Alan Finkel is that here, in Australia, hydrogen powered electric vehicles is an Australian solution. It's a solution for Australian transport. Now, that might not go down so well in the cafes of Marrickville. That might not go down so well when he's spinning the discs there pretending to be a DJ.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. Members on my right! The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order, other than relevance, because there's already been one taken.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, it was going to be that.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition doesn't have the call.

An honourable member interjecting

No, no. The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call. If he's going to say any more, he needs to be specific to the question.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The CSIRO makes it very clear that hydrogen-powered vehicles power the electricity of those vehicles. If the Leader of the Opposition doesn't agree with the former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel—

Honourable members interjecting—

I know that there are electric vehicles that you use in inner suburban areas, and that's very important. That's fine when people want to make those choices. We're not going to force people to buy those cars by putting up petrol prices by changing the fuel emissions standards, which is nothing more than a sneaky tax on petrol. We're not going to do that. We will ensure that we're supporting it, through the incentives and the initiatives we're putting in place. But one of the things we're particularly focusing on is hydrogen powered electric vehicles, because those are the things that can transport heavy vehicles and consumer vehicles over long distances, which is what Australia needs. Our approach is following the Australian way. The Leader of the Opposition might want to just go down the path of heavily populated cities in Europe and think that's the solution for Australia. (Time expired)