Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
3:15 pm
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
Tony Smith Speaker
Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Egregiously so.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Yesterday, the Prime Minister made a personal statement in which he quoted himself, repeating again the fake news that he'd earlier spread during the 2019 election that I wanted to end the weekend. In 2019 I announced Labor's target that electric vehicles would make up 50 per cent of all new car sales in Australia by 2030. Mr Morrison has further said, with trademark slipperiness, and I quote—
Tony Smith Speaker
No, the Leader of the Opposition will just go to where he's been misrepresented.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Mr Morrison has further said, with trademark inaccuracy:
I mean he reckons that 50 per cent of the cars that we all are driving around in 10 years from now will be electric cars.
That isn't what I said.
This week, in fact, President Biden signed an executive order for the exact same target for the same year that I and Labor proposed. Australia has been recently called the 'automotive third world', with less than one in every 100 vehicles on our roads being electric vehicles. The Prime Minister's hostile, belligerent, ill-informed fake news about what I said explains in no part, and reveals, his attitude in taking real action on climate. In fact, the House can rest assured: I drive an electric vehicle these days, and the weekend is still coming up on Saturday.