Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Last year, the minister showed off Australia's first EV ute, the LDV eT60. The managing director of drive.com describes the eT60 as having an effective range of only 150 kilometres for tradies, which doesn't work for people in rural areas on the urban fringe, people who tow or people who live on farms. Can the minister confirm that the eT60's price tag of $92,000 is nearly double the price of the diesel alternative?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, members on my left—on my right as well.

The member for Swan is warned. Do not interject while a minister is approaching the dispatch box. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy has the call.

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

I thank the member for Hume for his question, and I note that a constituent of his living in Goulburn will travel 18,705 kilometres each year and, as a result, on average would save—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will pause.

Honourable members interjecting—

Or the minister might as well start again because I can't hear a word he's saying. I can appreciate—

Order! The member for Hume has asked his question. I'm just going to ask the member for Fairfax to steady it, and I'm going to ask the minister to continue.

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

The member for Hume doesn't appear interested in the potential fuel savings of people who travel long distances in his electorate. On average, they travel 18,705 kilometres a year, which would save somebody buying a new car in 2028 $1,487 in his electorate. He doesn't appear to care. This was a point made by the member for Bradfield not that long ago.

One of the reasons I appreciate this line of questioning so much is that it underlines the negativity of this Leader of the Opposition. All he has got are scare campaigns. All he has got is negativity. The member for Cook may have left the building, but he left his anti-weekend scare campaigns behind for the Leader of the Opposition. Just a few weeks before the last election, the then Treasurer of Australia—the then member for Kooyong—was asked about fuel efficiency status. He said this: 'We have always been committed to getting fuel efficiency standards in place.' That was the former member for Kooyong. I'd hate to see it if they were opposed! They've had a funny way of showing it over the last week or so. This is an opposition so negative, as I've said before, that they oppose our policies—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fairfax—

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

They oppose the policies promoted by the former member for Kooyong and the member for Bradfield. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the member for Bradfield this week. I can't recall. To be fair to the member for Bradfield, he did propose fuel efficiency standards, but they were a little different to the ones preferred by the minister for transport and me, which we are consulting on at the moment. To be fair to him, they were much more aggressive than our standards—much more ambitious. The member for Bradfield had not one but three options that he consulted on.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The Leader of the Nationals will cease interjecting.

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

All of them for 2025 had more efficient vehicles on average than the ones the minister for transport and I are proposing. I'm trying to do the member for Bradfield a favour with his teal challenger showing that he's actually in favour of fuel efficiency standards. He just couldn't get it through. He could have got it through the parliament with the Labor Party's support, which we had provided. He just couldn't get it through his party room, because of the climate change-denying right wing. They vetoed the member for Bradfield, they vetoed the then member for Kooyong, and they are still running the Liberal Party today.