QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Mr BOWEN (McMahon—Minister for Climate Change and Energy) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for the question. In Australia, 574,400 homes have now installed a cheaper home battery, reducing their bills, in many cases, to zero. And I have good news for the member for Bullwinkel.
That great outer suburban and regional electorate that the member for Bullwinkel so ably represents has now joined the club of electorates where more than 10 per cent of the houses have installed a cheaper home battery, joining the members for Hume and Mitchell and Macquarie and Greenway and Chifley and others. It doesn't end there. There is another electorate which has joined the 10 per cent club.
It's not an inner city electorate. It's an electorate in the industrial, energy-making heartland of Australia. I congratulate the member for Hunter.
They're not short of batteries in the Hunter, and they are not short when it comes to a great local member. Now the people of Hunter have more than 10 per cent of the houses with a cheaper home battery. The member for Bullwinkel also asked me about transport, and I'm very happy to tell the House that now we have surpassed another milestone.
Half a million Australians have bought an electric vehicle. This is possible because of the new vehicle efficiency standard which this government introduced to ensure that Australians have improved choices when it comes to vehicles. When we came to office, there were 60 models of EVs available.
Now there are 196. When we came to office, there were no EVs available for under $40,000. Now there are 15, and the cheapest new car on sale in Australia today is an EV.
This is about Australians making those choices and saving at the bowser. We know that Australians who bought an EV will save $76 million by petrol that they won't buy this year. That's $76 million saved at the bowser they can spend on other things.
Recently we had—the honourable member asked me what policies could stop this, and there's a number, and they all come from that side of the House because the other side of the House would abolish the Cheaper Home Batteries policy, and they have announced they would abolish the New Vehicle Efficiency Standards. This will see those savings disappear, and we know that.
Don't take my word for it, because this was a reheated policy from the last election. When the now leader of the opposition put the costings out, it showed that abolishing the New Vehicle Efficiency Standards would see Australians paying $600 million more in petrol tax by not getting those savings. The then shadow treasurer and the then shadow finance minister, now leader and deputy leader of the Liberal Party, when they put their costings out two days before the election, actually put out a policy which would see Australians pay $600 million more in petrol tax by taking choices away from Australians, such is their opposition to climate action.
They would insult the Pacific, vote against free trade and see Australians paying more petrol tax.