PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms JARRETT (Brisbane) (17:15): We know people are looking at their fuel bills, daily commute and costs of maintaining a car. They're looking at more affordable ways to get to work, drop the kids off at school and go and buy groceries. There is a better way to go—that is, to go electric.
More Australians than ever are making the switch to electric vehicles, helping power a cleaner, greener future for our nation. In fact, last month Australia passed half a million battery electric car sales since 2021. According to the Electric Vehicle Council, battery electric vehicles represented approximately one-quarter of new car sales just this past September.
When you add those plug-in hybrids, that share reaches around a third. That shows how substantially the market has shifted. While this is encouraging to see, let's not forget Australia is still playing catch-up.
Under the previous coalition government, there was a decade of climate denial and ridiculous scare campaigns. We'll never forget how the EV was going to ruin the weekend. But under Labor we recognise the important role electric vehicles play not just for our families but for our community and the longevity of our society.
When we were elected in 2022, Labor set a clear course for Australia's electric vehicle future, removing longstanding barriers to uptake and providing the certainty needed to unlock investment, innovation and consumer choice—better technology, stronger competition and new cars hitting the Australian market. Those days of seeing that one same brand of electric vehicle over and over again are gone.
One important step to encourage uptake is the electric car discount. By exempting eligible electric cars provided through employment arrangements such as a fringe benefits tax, electric vehicles are more financially accessible to eligible workers, including through salary sacrificing. That doesn't mean all leases are good; we have to take into consideration finance costs and insurance—and, of course, fees still matter.
But reducing the tax barrier gives more Australians a realistic opportunity to consider an electric vehicle. The government has also announced a transition towards a smaller, permanent concession, with support for more affordable eligible vehicles to be retained for longer. That reflects an important principle—a policy can establish a market, then change as the market progresses.
A second major reform we have implemented is the new vehicle efficiency standard. Its emissions obligations began applying to new vehicles supplied from 1 July 2025. It requires manufacturers to meet progressively lower average emissions targets across the vehicles they supply.
Manufacturers can still sell petrol cars, diesel vehicles, four-wheel drives et cetera, but the standard encourages them to bring Australians a wider selection of efficient and low-emissions vehicles alongside those models. For consumers, that matters, because choice and competition are important and essential to affordability. Australians should have access to modern vehicles across different price points and needs, and the government should help create a market where manufacturers compete to deliver that choice.
Then there's charging. A household needs confidence that an electric vehicle can be charged and will fit into their everyday life. This means reliable charging, understandable prices and infrastructure beyond the centres of our largest cities.
Our government's Driving the Nation Fund is investing over $500 million in EV charging infrastructure and innovation in EV technologies. We recently expanded this fund to include an additional $40 million for nationwide public, kerbside and fast EV charging points, particularly in regional blackspots. This was part of the government's Net Zero Plan.
This funding will help unlock the potential for electricity networks to facilitate an accelerated rollout of EV charging, including on kerbsides and in areas where there are still black holes. There's still a lot of work to do. We know that, and we know that apartment residents can face complex approval processes and that regional drivers need dependable infrastructure along the routes they use as well.
But there is a national benefit. Electric vehicles give Australians more opportunity to power transport with locally generated electricity. As more electric vehicles enter our fleets, more will eventually become second-hand vehicles.
That's crucial because our transition must reach all Australians, some of whom will never ever buy a brand new car. It has helped lower barriers, improve vehicle choice and support the infrastructure needed for change. Labor has introduced electric vehicles because we believe they should become a practical option for ordinary Australian households.
They should be affordable to buy and dependable to charge. (Time expired)