Scott Morrison has no plan to capitalise on the uptake of electric vehicles and Australians are paying the price every time they fill up their cars.
Australian motorists who want to make the switch to electric vehicles are confronted by the high upfront cost and limited charging infrastructure because the Morrison Government does not have an electric vehicles plan.
After six years of inaction, Australia has the lowest uptake of electric vehicles in the developed world and consumers are being left behind.
Electric vehicle performance and range is on the rise, the price of electric vehicles is dropping and car manufacturers are putting their research and development effort into electric vehicles.
Infrastructure Australia is clear that national investment is needed to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure, particularly across rural and regional Australia. Without a plan to build this network, Australians are being left behind.
Even Conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnston is setting ambitious plans for electric vehicles in the United Kingdom.
Scott Morrison doesn’t have a national plan for electric vehicles and his Ministers responsible for developing the plan didn’t even meet once last year.
Rather than supporting growth in electric vehicles, Scott Morrison’s policy settings are just making things worse.
Australia is the only OECD nation that doesn’t even have mandatory vehicle emissions standards, costing motorists up to $500 a year on the Government’s own numbers.
It’s clear that Scott Morrison has no plan for our country and Australian motorists are paying the price.
Of course, a Prime Minister who spent most of last year claiming that electric vehicles were set to “end the weekend” will never deliver a credible electric vehicle plan.
While the rest of the world is rapidly moving on electric vehicles, Scott Morrison is asleep at the wheel and Australians are missing out.
With Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Mark Butler