Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the Reva electric car has been approved for use in the European Union, Japan and Malta and is being test marketed in the United States of America, Sri Lanka, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Romania and Cyprus,

(ii)

electric vehicles can reduce both Australia’s dependence on foreign oil and its greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when recharged with renewable electricity, and

(iii)

based on accident and insurance data, the chance of a fatality occurring in a Reva is around 50 per cent less than in an ordinary car; and

(b)

calls on the Government to:

(i)

remove any impediment that would prevent the import of 20 Revas into Australia for a trial,

(ii)

investigate the adoption of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Heavy Quadricycle category 92/61/EC as a vehicle class, and

(iii)

extend the import permit to delay the destruction or export of the one Reva vehicle currently in Australia until such time as a final decision is taken in regard to adoption of the heavy quadricycle vehicle category.

Question put.