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

():  My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. The Australian Automotive Dealers Association has said that Labor's targets, 'will be difficult to achieve, especially for utes and large SUVs,' and, 'This could have consequences for affordability and vehicle choice.' Minister, will you provide a clear guarantee to the Australian people that there will be no increase in the purchase price of any model of four-wheel drive, ute or SUV as a result of the government's new vehicle efficiency standard? Yes or no?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to 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.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie?

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

A point of order on relevance: the discussion paper released goes to cheaper cars. I am asking the government to back in Minister Bowen's claim around the costs of cars. Are they going to go up or down?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator McKenzie, I will direct the minister to your question.

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

As I say, I can do better than directing Senator McKenzie to a comment from this government; I can direct her to Mr Fletcher's remarks where he said—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Watt, I have asked you to give a response to Senator McKenzie as a government response. It's okay to refer to a previous government in passing comments, but the question is directed to you as the minister.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order: President, I would make this point—that the fact that a minister is referencing a previous minister does not mean it's not directly relevant to the topic that's being put. So I'd ask you to consider that.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Wong. I do appreciate that, which is why I gave the minister some leniency. I agree that it is reasonable to quote a previous minister, but I think it's time now to move on to Minister Watt's response.

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

There is no evidence whatsoever, from international experiences, that prices of vehicles under a new fuel efficiency standard will increase in the way Senator McKenzie suggests. Mr Fletcher made that point back in May 2018, when he said that, when America introduced fuel efficiency standards, 'There wasn't a material change in price and we don't expect that there would be a material change in price here.' But what we have, as expected, is the same old scare campaigns from the National Party. What we have is 'ending the weekend mark 2'. I notice that Senator McKenzie went awfully close to reinventing the weekend attack when she said on Sky News on 5 February that Australians want the work car to be their weekend car. They had to get the word 'weekend' in there somewhere, Pavlovian style. 'We're almost Scottish en masse where we don't want a work car and a separate weekend car. We like them to be together.' That's Senator McKenzie. Unfortunately for Senator McKenzie, Senator Sharma was on Sky News the same day, and we'll get to that shortly. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, first supplementary?

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

The Australian Automobile Association and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries have expressed doubts over the government's modelling on the impacts of its carbon emission policies for SUVs, four-wheel drives and utes and has called for the government to release its modelling. The government paid ACIL Allen almost $750,000 of taxpayers' money to undertake that modelling. Minister, when will the government release the full taxpayer-funded modelling for public scrutiny on this?

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

Thank you, Senator McKenzie. Senator McKenzie may not yet have taken the opportunity to read the 80 pages of analysis in the analysis statement that was released by Ministers Bowen and King just the other day. I encourage her to do so because she'll probably find a lot of answers in there to the questions she asked.

Senator McKenzie does refer to some statements made by some stakeholders who are opposed to this. But I've also noted comments from the RACQ, the NRMA and a range of other groups who are backing what the government is doing here. But it's not only stakeholders who are backing what the government's doing here, because—

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

Point of order.

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

We don't want to hear what your own people are saying, do we!

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, before I come to you, I will remind you to stand, and then, when I call you, you tell me you have a point of order. But you've said you've got a point of order, so please go ahead.

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

It's on relevance. Senator Watt asked if I'd read the document. I have—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, that—

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

and it references this report and this modelling, and they haven't released it.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

When will you release it?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, order! Senator McKenzie, you rose on a point of order and then you went immediately to a debating point. I called you to order. You didn't come to order, and I repeatedly had to call you. That is disorderly. There is no point of order. The minister is being relevant.

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

It's not only the stakeholders like the RACQ, the NRMA and many others who are supporting us. Senator Sharma made an early appearance in his new career as a senator on Sky News on 5 February 2024. He said:

Well, we are adopting increasing fuel efficiency standards and that's a good thing. I don't have a problem with that. We should be doing that, and the fleet should be progressively getting cleaner and a lower intensity of emissions.

Good on you, Senator Sharma. You know the right thing.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, a second supplementary?

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

The Motor Trades Association of Australia says that 'there are no internal combustion engines that can hit' the government's 2029 carbon targets. Based on the government's own Green Vehicle Guide, the proposed carbon penalties for popular SUVs are 1,500 bucks per Toyota RAV4, 6,600 bucks per Mazda CX5 and over $7,000 per Hyundai TUCSON by 2027. Minister, can you guarantee that there'll be no reduction in availability of these top-selling cars for Australians? (Time expired)

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

Thank you, Senator McKenzie. We are aware that there are some particular stakeholders who don't support what we're doing because they like things as they currently stand. But, as I say, the NRMA are supporting what we're doing. The RACQ are supporting what we're doing. The RAC WA is supporting what we're doing. And Senator Sharma is supporting what we're doing. So thank you, Senator Sharma, for your support.

I would inform Senator McKenzie and all of her National Party colleagues who want to go on about ending weekends that there's another country not too far from here that is a little bit similar to Australia which likes its utes and pick-up trucks and likes driving long distances. It's called the United States of America. Do you know what? They've had fuel efficiency standards in place for 50 years. The last time I watched a movie set in America, there was a pick-up truck in that movie, because there are lots of pick-up trucks in America, despite their having fuel efficiency standards. That is exactly what will happen here at the same time as providing cost-of-living relief to Australians by reducing petrol prices. Why do you want regional Australians to keep paying more for their petrol rather than having what we are proposing now?