Rex Patrick (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note as well in relation to item No. 3 on electric vehicles. We now have two letters tabled in response to the Senate resolution of 1 December on electric vehicles. I look forward to receiving the responses from the other states. These responses showcase the total and utter confusion caused by the lack of a national plan on electric vehicles. The Tasmanian Premier and I are both waiting in anticipation for the government's release of the national strategy for electric vehicles. Is the government prepared to share the date on which this will be released? In February two years ago, during his speech on climate solutions, the Prime Minister made it clear his government was working on a national vehicle strategy. Well, it must be a cracker of a strategy because we're still waiting. The Prime Minister said: 'The government is developing a national electric vehicle strategy to ensure the transition to new vehicle technology and infrastructure is carefully planned and managed.'

My advice is to stop planning and get engaged, because the transition is already happening and it is being led by the states and territories. There's a risk with this piecemeal approach, state by state, each with different policy settings, different taxes and different apprehensions with consumers and industry—all sorts of uncertainty as a big disincentive for electric vehicle uptake. As I said in my motion on 7 December last year, the government must provide national leadership on electric vehicles by delivering the national strategy it promised.

In the interim, whilst the nation waits for a national strategy, the government could demonstrate a modicum of leadership by dealing with the issue of which EV plug to use. Today we have at least four different plug types, creating confusion for car owners and industry alike. Why not make things simple and mandate a single plug to give Australians certainty? This is one tangible element that the Prime Minister's proposed back in 2019, when he said the government would investigate mandating a single electric vehicle plug to improve the consistency and interoperability of public charging. This would be at least one small step to resolving some ambiguity.

Senators, who would have thought that the world would break out into a pandemic, that there would be all sorts of terrible issues occurring right across the world, that here in Australia there would be lockdowns, border closures and all that sort of stuff? And now we get to the point, gladly, where we're seeing a vaccine rolled out. And we've seen all of that happen whilst the government has been unable to decide what sort of plug to use. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.