Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The great Liberal electric vehicle scare campaign of 2024 rolls on. Unperturbed by their failure to win back Dunkley, we've since seen the Liberal Party double-down on their misguided opposition to Australians paying less for fuel. Let's not forget the last time the Liberals tried to scare us off fuel-efficient cars. They said that electric vehicles were going to ruin the weekend. Now we're being told that there's a great big new tax on cars on its way, which those who read the department's analysis would know is absolute rubbish. Let's not just take their word for it. I'll read out a headline from the RMIT Fact Check website released on Friday 15 March. It reads: 'Peter Dutton says Labor's proposed fuel efficiency standards constitute a ute or family car tax. Is that correct?' 'No, Labor is not taxing the family car.' I mean, that's pretty conclusive.

Labor wants people to pay less for fuel when they buy a new car. Labor wants motorists to have a choice of the best technology when they buy a new car. Labor wants to reduce emissions in the transport sector. In terms of developed economies, it is only Australia and Russia that have no standards for new vehicles. Unlike the Russians and the Liberals, we are a government that's committed to climate action, to a transition to renewables and now to a new vehicles emissions standard.