Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Braddon for his question and for his strong support for alternative fuels. The news from the alternative fuel industry in Australia just keeps getting better and better. The LPG vehicle scheme, officially launched only 2½ weeks ago, continues to generate incredible community interest. At the close of business yesterday some 4,200 grants worth some $8.4 million had been approved to Australian motorists. And as the applications continue to roll in, more will, no doubt, be on the way.

The popularity of this program has, of course, seen increased demand for LPG conversions and it is a shame the member for Melbourne is not here to listen to this. The increase in demand, and in that respect the response from industry, has been very encouraging. Over the last three months industry capacity for LPG conversions has more than doubled. According to LPG Australia, there were 4,000 conversions in July, 8,000 in August and 11,000 in September. And this proves the basic economic point for the member for Melbourne and others opposite: when the demand for services grow, the supply will soon follow.

In addition to LPG installation there has been an increase in LPG installation courses offered by the TAFEs, and we look forward to industry capacity continuing to grow. While I am on the topic of industry growing capacity, we should not forget the tremendous gains that have been made in another important alternative fuel sector, the biofuels industry. The Howard government has put in place a suite of measures behind the biofuels sector.

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