Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. What action is the Albanese Labor government taking to ensure more Australians have more choice and better access to electric vehicles? Why is policy change in this area so important?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question and her very strong interest in energy policy. Of course in the Albanese government we're getting on with the job of providing Australians with better choice of electric vehicles and cheaper electric vehicles. Important is our electric vehicle tax cut that the Treasurer is shepherding through the parliament. That will save a fleet buyer $9,000 a year on average for their employees if they buy them an electric vehicle, and it will save an individual $5,000 a year on average if they lease their electric vehicle through their employer.

I was a little surprised to read this morning that the party of tax cuts is against this tax cut. The party of tax cuts over here has decided they're opposing making electric vehicles cheaper. This came as a considerable surprise to the government. It just shows they will go to any lengths to stop Australians getting cheaper and better electric vehicles. But even better when I read this article this morning was the excuse, the explanation. The shadow minister for finance said, 'We've looked at this, and the real issue and concern is actually supply.' The problem is supply, they said. The trouble is they're against even discussing policies to improve supply of electric vehicles to Australia.

A couple of weeks ago, Minister King, the minister for transport, and I announced the government would issue a discussion paper on how we could improve supply of electric vehicles to Australia. The opposition was against it, against discussing better supply. The Leader of the Opposition knows that Australia and Russia are the only two developed countries without fuel-efficiency standards, and he says: 'Nyet. We're not going to discuss that.' It's his nyet-zero policy! It's the only one he's got. He's against it.

But the Deputy Leader of the Opposition came out. She had a good reason. She said in another one of those interviews, 'There is no firm in the world that's making electric utes at the moment.' No company in the world! She has a point—I'm always fair—but there are some small, boutique firms making electric utes. Honourable members might not have heard of them: Mitsubishi, Ford and General Motors. But, apart from them, there are very few! It's only a small group making electric vehicles.

We on this side of the House want better choices. Electric vehicles are better for the environment and better for cost of living, and we want all Australians, regardless of where they live, to have the right to a good electric vehicle. That's what we're getting on and delivering.