JAKARTA - The Australian Government announced on Friday, August 19 that it plans to introduce new regulations targeting vehicle carbon emissions to increase the uptake of electric cars. The reason is that this policy will also pursue the improvement of other advanced economies.
Currently only 2% of cars sold in Australia are electric cars. This number is much smaller when compared to 15% in the UK and 17% in Europe. "Our country is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for vehicles that can't be sold anywhere else," said Minister of Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen, as quoted by Reuters.
Apart from Russia, Australia is the only OECD country that does not have or develop fuel efficiency standards, prompting manufacturers to supply more electric and zero-emission vehicles.
"For me, it's ultimately about choice. And the policy setting is denying Australians the real choice of a good, affordable, zero-emissions car," Bowen said at an electric vehicle summit in Canberra.
The government will release a discussion paper for consultations in September, with a focus on increasing EV uptake.
Currently, only eight EV models priced under AUD 60,000 (Rp 613.5 million) are available to choose from in Australia. "This is far, compared to 26 in the UK," said Bowen.
"Australia risks becoming a dumping ground for old technology that cannot be sold in other markets," he said.
The emissions move follows the May election victory of the centre-left Labor government led by Anthony Albanese, which campaigned on promises of climate policy reforms that would bring the country in line with other developed economies.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in 2019 that policies to reduce vehicle emissions would "end the weekend", while other critics said EVs would phase out the popular utility vehicles, or Utes, used by builders and farmers.
"The time for cheap politics, to say it will 'end the weekend' or take over Utes is over," Bowen told reporters at a news conference after his speech.
"If you have an electric vehicle, you no longer need to lift the nozzle at the gas station," he said.
Albanese has promised tax cuts on electric vehicles, and raised Australia's 2030 target for reducing carbon emissions to a 43% reduction from 2005 levels.
Tesla chairman Robyn Denholm, who was present at the panel discussion at the summit, said Australia had to catch up with the world as quickly as possible.
"It's not just about EVs. It's also about reducing emissions from gasoline-fueled vehicles. What we can't accept is the dirtiest car in the world in Australia. That's what we have today and it's increasing," he said.
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