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

Firstly, I'll draw the Senate's attention to Senator Cadell's question, which was, effectively, 'When will Minister Bowen listen to the concerns about our vehicle efficiency standards?' I'd say that a cursory check would advise him that there was a consultation which has closed very recently and that, at the close of that, the minister will consider all of that feedback. I think he has been quite clear about that. There's a very interesting concept that isn't well versed for those opposite—let's be clear about that—which is the idea of meaningful consultation. Meaningful consultation is something which is vitally important to us in the Labor government. It's something that we strive to ensure happens. It's an opportunity for people to provide input and also for us to listen. And where there are sensible suggestions that go to the intent of our policy then, yes, we will listen and we're open to changes. That's what good government does; it listens to ideas, considers them in the context of what it's trying to achieve and then takes on board what does that.

The minister is working really closely with the industry at getting this outcome. The intent here is quite simple, and my colleague, Senator Ciccone, was very clear about that. The idea is to provide a greater choice of cheaper and cleaner-to-run vehicles. This isn't just about emissions reduction, it's also about the cost of living. It's also about the cost for someone to own a vehicle. We have to stop being the world's dumping ground here. Only Australia and Russia don't have vehicle efficiency standards; we're at the back of the pack. We have totally languished at the back of the pack under the decade of Liberal-National government. This was a government that was neglectful at best, in terms of how it looked towards the future for this country, leaving us as an absolute dumping ground.

But who is surprised? This seemed to be the case across every policy area we could possibly point a finger at. For all the scaremongering that's going on, and the misinformation, the United States has had these efficiency standards in place for 50 years. There is no evidence from there or any other country—the multitude of other countries which have these standards in place—to say that this is going to lead to an increase in the cost of vehicles to consumers. In fact, it would deliver $108 billion in fuel savings to Australians by 2050. And, once this policy is fully implemented, the average new car buyer would cut their annual fuel costs by about $1,000. If that isn't going to assist in terms of the cost of living then I don't know what is! That's going to make a fundamental difference to people.

We know that Australians have been feeling cost-of-living pressures for a long time now. As I've said in this chamber before, the cost-of-living crisis did not start in May 2022; every last statistic or report that anyone would like to pull out will evidence that. It isn't an overnight sensation and it isn't something that just occurred. This has been building for a while, for a range of reasons. But we're delivering targeted cost-of-living relief in a way that will not increase inflation, because to increase inflation is only to make the problem worse.

Under the Labor government, every single taxpayer is going to get a tax cut. We made significant changes to the stage 3 tax cuts and developed the Albanese Labor government tax cut, which will deliver significantly for every single taxpayer across this country. In fact, in my home state of South Australia, that tax cut is going to be larger for 89 per cent of the people in my home state and I'm really, really proud about that. It's going to make a fundamental difference.

We have also introduced cheaper child care and we've made it easier to access health care. Overall, Australians are estimated to have saved $15 million in GP fees in November and December alone. The scaremongering and misinformation from those opposite need to stop.