Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

Let's be very clear. The recent uptick in EV consumption in the last couple of months is because the Australian people do not trust this prime minister and this energy minister to manage the crisis in Iran. This government has worked aggressively to move primarily metropolitan Australians into electric cars. But at what cost?

Electric vehicles have an excellent application in our modern cities, especially due to regenerative braking, and will continue to become more widespread. However, we must ground this argument and this debate in physics and engineering, not ideology. I remain highly critical of their limited application in regional and industrial settings because heavy electric transport trucks, mining trucks, tractors and regional passenger transport face massive logistical limitations, and crucial charging infrastructure remains a vast, unresolved barrier for regional communities.

Take me, for example. As the member for Grey, I drive about 100,000 kilometres a year. Could I perform this job in an EV? Absolutely not. With the range alone—going from Port Lincoln to Ceduna, Ceduna to Whyalla, Whyalla to Coober Pedy—I couldn't even get to those communities, let alone find a charger along the way. To cut a long story short—this is not revolutionary—they simply do not work in the bush and won't work for some time. Until the energy density of batteries can be comparable to hydrocarbons, batteries will remain unfit for purpose in industrial applications and in long distance transport, particularly in regional communities. EVs are not fit for purpose, and it is completely unacceptable that Labor's family car tax and ute tax subsidise city based doctors and lawyers at the expense of tradies who need that ute to perform their task or that farmer who needs that tractor to do their job.

My focus is also on the deeply concerning influx of Chinese electric vehicles and cheap Chinese batteries. We must honestly ask why these vehicles are suddenly so affordable, and it is not simply because of the self-professed brilliance of Labor-Greens policies. Chinese vehicle exports surged by 69 per cent in May. Why? It was because of the crisis in Iran and the lack of confidence that Australians have in this government's ability to manage the crisis but also because the domestic electric vehicle sales in China dropped by four per cent. So, to aggressively offset their softer local sales, Chinese manufacturers are leaning much harder into overseas markets. The Americans aren't taking their cars, so they're bringing them to Australia. Consequently, Chinese brands now account for 57 per cent of the EV market in Australia, up from 33 per cent just last year.

This state backed product dumping is rapidly destroying genuine fair competition. They're dumping to take over the market and are being paid handsomely for doing so. This is the truth of this prime minister and minister for climate change and energy's net zero pipedream: it punishes Australians and enriches the Chinese Communist Party. Just as it was with solar panels which are produced in China, with our metals and our resources, and sold back to us, so it is with electric vehicles. Half of all cars sold between now and 2035 have to be EVs to meet our net zero target. That won't happen. But at this rate China will become very, very rich from it.

Cybersecurity experts warn that the rapid uptake of these foreign devices actively places our critical infrastructure at risk of international hijack. In more ways than one, Labor's current policies are fundamentally at odds with national security imperatives as they pertain to China. Chinese manufacturers account for 70 per cent of the home battery market, while 80 per cent of new EV arrivals are also built in China. Shouldn't we be worried? Even the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, was warned by his own department to take precautions, while driving his own Chinese EV, to protect the secrets of our nation. What are we doing here?

The current flood of electric vehicles is not a miracle of the free market or of good policy. It is aggressive Chinese product dumping, and we need to get a handle on it. (Time expired)

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