Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

It's interesting, the people who are piping up: Senator Rennick, Senator Canavan. Who were the people who held us back for 10 years? It was characters like them. We've finally got to a point in this country where we have a government that doesn't run around saying that electric vehicles will end the weekend. There are more electric vehicles on the weekend. There are more electric vehicles on the weekdays as well. This government, as a result, Senator Pocock, has released Australia's first National Electric Vehicle Strategy, delivering on our commitment to provide greater choice for Australians to drive cars that are cleaner and cheaper to run.

Again, the coalition had 10 years in office to do something about electric vehicles, but, of course, all they did was run another scare campaign. It was up there with their $100 dollar lamb roasts. It was up there with ending the backyard barbecue. Electric vehicles were going to end the weekend. Well, every day when I get out on the roads, I see Teslas. I see other electric vehicles. Occasionally we get to have a weekend. We don't get a lot of weekends in this job, but a lot of Australians do, and the weekend has survived 10 years of the coalition in power and survived electric vehicles as well.

It is good to see the uptake of EV is continuing to increase, with recent figures showing that sales during the first half of this year have already passed the total from all the 2022. That's a good thing and it shows what can happen when you have a government supporting EVs.