Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Minister Bowen—who lost the plot in the House of Representatives this morning and slammed through the legislation without any debate, only to get it up here in time to be part of the Greens' and the Labor Party's guillotine. Labor refuses to allow contributions to the second reading debate in both the House and the Senate. Labor refused debate and blocked attempts to investigate this. It is a right of the Senate to have an inquiry.

Labor has been incredibly secretive about the impacts of the family car and ute tax from the start. They refused to release the modelling. Today they were prepared to ride roughshod over our democratic institutions to deny debate, investigation or questions to ministers—legitimate questions that still need to be asked on behalf of the Australian people. Labor has refused to release the modelling that cost Australian taxpayers $750,000. What will the cost of this tax be for everyday Australians who can't afford an electric vehicle or where there isn't an electric vehicle in production that meets their needs on a continent like ours? It is a policy that will increase the cost to families of buying a new car in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. What a way to finish budget week!

We support a policy that will result in families actually holding onto their existing vehicles for longer. That's actually what is going to happen because they won't be able to afford what's coming to them. Under Labor only one type of road user is exempt from contributing to the maintenance and safety of our roads, and they are those Australians who can afford to purchase an electric vehicle. They are not low-income earning Australians. They are not vulnerable families. They are not people in rural and communities. Everyone else—our tradies, apprentices, teachers, nurses and retail workers who are driving regular cars and can't afford electric vehicles—is actually going to be paying fuel excise to make sure our road maintenance is funded and to make sure our roads are safe. That includes truck drivers, bus drivers and families who drive ICE or hybrid engine cars. Let's not forget that this particular policy, which is going to be slammed through this chamber in the next few hours without debate, actually taxes hybrid vehicles.

The coalition believes there should be a technology-neutral approach to achieving net zero and a low-emissions transport future, and that includes hybrids as a transition technology. It includes biofuels, hydrogen vehicles and other technologies which could be commercialised over the next decade. We are seeking to amend this bill, and we wanted to have an inquiry to get well-rounded, well-thought-out amendments to make this a better bill. We are not against a transition to net zero by 2050, but you cannot hurt and harm low-income families and rural and regional families through the bill that's going to be slammed through.

We are seeking to amend the bill to oppose the family car and ute tax. We want to delete the ratchet mechanism and make sure the minister is required to give consideration to price impact on Australians. We want to know what the emissions reductions will actually be because Australians are just going to keep these cars in the garage for longer because they won't be able to afford to transition in the timeframe and with the penalties that you're going to subject them to. We want to understand vehicle choice. We have one of the greatest ranges of choice in the world. You can buy cars here that you can't buy anywhere else, and it is because we need them to be different. We have vast differences. We have a lot of rurality and dirt roads and quite a challenging environment.

We don't think it's fair to ask car manufacturers to subsidise their competitors. We're actually subsidising Elon Musk and Chinese EV manufactures as a result of the policy that Labor will push through tonight.