Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Once upon a time—a very, very long time ago—when the National Party was probably just a twinkle in the eye, a grand new development came along, an exciting development that terrified much of the world.

And that great development was the automobile. At the time, people were concerned and alarmed: 'How on earth could I possibly get my harvest to the market in that thing? It just won't work! The petrol won't take it far enough. The roads are all made of dirt. Oh my goodness! We can't do this. This is going to ruin how we live our lives. The world will end. What about the horses? Who's going to protect the horses?' Come on. Why don't we just get over this and realise that this is about technological development? This is about the future. This is about looking towards how things are changing.

We've got a situation where we are one of the last countries in the world without meaningful standards in this arena. What does that mean? It means that the dirtier cars in the world are being dumped on our doorstep. That is what we are being left with, because we are behind. We have fallen far behind. Look at the United States. They have had vehicle standards for 50 years, and we are standing here, listening to the Liberal Party and the National Party talk about how this is going to end something. That's their favourite line, whether we're ending the weekend or we're ending the future of gas guzzlers, which obviously are their favourite option here. This is about more choice. This is about driving towards a cheaper way of driving your car, but it is an option.