GOVERNMENT DRIVING IN REVERSE ON ELECTRIC VEHICLE ROLLOUT

As the Senate Select Committee on Electric Vehicles meets to hold a hearing in Brisbane today, answers to questions on notice asked by Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick show that the Government has no plans for the rollout of electric vehicles across Australia. 

"It is disturbing," said Rex. "They bolted a driver's seat in the future of motor vehicles - they just haven’t installed the steering wheel."

"Electric Vehicles are the future. They improve productivity through lower operating costs, they eliminate pollutants and they substantially reduce the national carbon footprint," said Rex.

"There are very few downsides. It does, however, require the Government to do some planning in respect of charging infrastructure and planning for the loss of fuel excise. But they’re just not thinking about it."

This is in stark contrast to China, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK which have all set targets for Electric Vehicles, with some also announcing the eventual phase out of vehicles with internal combustion engines. 

At an August hearing of the inquiry, Senator Patrick asked Government officials to provide the minutes of meetings of the Ministerial Forum on Vehicle Emissions. Unbelievably, officials stated that no minutes were taken. Senator Patrick then pressed the officials to table any notes that had been taken at the meetings.

In their answer, officials noted "EV’s will remain niche vehicles in the short term due to infrastructure and range barriers, and most importantly costs."  Another noted "caution against the government picking winners in new vehicle technologies." This is despite almost every motor vehicle manufacturer transitioning to Electric Vehicles.

"The vehicle manufacturers have already picked the winners. The Government just needs to get on board," said Rex

The most disturbing answer from Government officials was a proclamation that "until at least 2030 conventional engines will stay the main platform."

"It’s almost as though it's a fait accompli," said Rex. "It reminds me of that saying - it doesn’t matter whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're almost certainly right."