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

Thank you, Senator McKenzie. I can actually do better than that. I can do better than giving commitments from the Albanese government about this point. What I can do is point you to the remarks of Mr Fletcher, who was the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities in May 2018, when the former government, momentarily, was going to introduce fuel efficiency standards. And what did he have to say about this? What Mr Fletcher, a member of the Liberal Party, a minister at the time, said was:

So when fuel efficiency standards were introduced in the US, the most popular models before introduction stayed the most popular models after introduction. Essentially, what Americans call pickup trucks and what we'd call utes, like the Chevy Silverado. There wasn't a material change in price and we don't expect that there would be a material change in price here.