Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

On what date did the government formally decide to provide Toyota with the $35 million? What was the decision-making process behind the arrival at that decision? On what date was Toyota formally advised of the government’s intention to provide the money? The minister referred to the Commercial Ready program not having the worth he had hoped it would because, according to the Productivity Commission, some projects would have proceeded anyway without the funding that was available under Commercial Ready. How does that logic then carry over to this allocation of funding, when it has been widely reported the project would have proceeded without any funding? On what date was the communication between the minister, his staff and his department and Toyota about the announcement and the press releases issued from both parties? Also, is the funding actually coming from the $500 million green car fund? If so, from what year is that funding being rephased and where in the budget papers would we seek to find any accounting for the $35 million that the Toyota grant has identified?

Has the minister’s attention been drawn to accounts of the decision published in an article prepared by Paul Kerin where he points to the fact that the carbon emissions from vehicles account for 44 million tonnes per year and even if the Camry’s entire annual hybrid production replaced conventional cars, it would cut emissions in Australia by only 0.000015 per cent and that a similar outcome could be achieved by converting only 0.2 per cent of the 12 million vehicle fleet onto LPG? Is the minister aware of the environment, energy, security and health benefits of LPG and is there a plan to extend the grant program to transition away from petrol onto an existing reliable, clean and safe fuel? Has he seen the analysis about the cost of the decision and the impact on vehicle behaviour and on fuel use of the green car decision? Also, have Ford and Holden been advised of the nature of this payment, afforded the courtesy of some explanation as to what the selection criteria may be and the conditions that are attached to it, and informed about how they, too, could also access some of this funding?

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