Thursday, 7 April 2022

Electric vehicles

Mr HAYES (Southern Metropolitan) (11:03): I rise to speak on concerning reports about the massive shortage of electric cars available to meet local demand. Manufacturers are not prioritising Australia, and we are also paying the cost of geographic isolation, which begs the question: why isn’t there scope for the government to become involved, wholly or at least partly, in electric vehicle manufacturing? There is a demand that the market is not meeting. Once up and going to meet this unmet demand, the government could either wholly or partly stake the private sector and their share could be sold off later. Well-known French manufacturer Renault still remains partly government owned after partial privatisation began in 1996. The other alternative is for the government to subsidise a manufacturer here, as was the case in 1948 when our car industry really got underway. We have the materials and we have an educated workforce here. We are in a climate and energy crisis. We have international obligations to reduce emissions. We must reduce our dependence on imported oil. The time to think big and the time to act is now. The demand is there, and the private market is failing to meet that demand.