Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

It's a quarter past 10. Tick-tock, Minister Ayres: we are still waiting for you. The contempt and disrespect that the government shows this chamber of the Australian parliament is demonstrated by the fact that there are only two Labor Party senators in the room. The Greens are here to debate this and to hold the minister to account. One Nation is here to hold the minister to account. The National Party is here to hold the government to account. And the Liberal Party, as part of a strong coalition, is here to hold the minister, and therefore the government, to account. But the only two government people in the chamber are the minister on duty and the government whip. That is absolutely appalling.

In the response to this chamber's direction to the government that a minister come and be accountable for the Labor Party's appalling reports and lack of transparency, the minister who was forced to stand up on behalf of the responsible minister, Senator Gallagher, read some mealy-mouthed report. She simply just read out the explanation. That shows the Australian people the level of contempt this government has for being held accountable on behalf of the Australian people. As the shadow minister for infrastructure, transport and regional development, I was looking forward to Minister Ayres explaining to us the role that the industry sector plans had in actually setting the aggressive emissions reductions targets that Minister Bowen announced a while ago, because apparently these sector plans were the basis on which they could go out and announce this incredibly aggressive target.

We questioned them during Senate estimates on the veracity of these plans and their target, and it seems that Mr Bowen, the emperor, has literally no clothes. Whether it was the transport sector, my own sector, or other areas across the ministry, these sector plans were produced with no modelling of their impact. For the transport sector, the myth is that we'll meet the 2030 target that Labor have announced when they haven't been able to achieve anything in the last three years. The sector plan for transport means that, in the next 10 years, six million new electric vehicles will need to be purchased by everyday Australians—mums and dads in the suburbs and in the regions rushing out to buy electric vehicles that won't serve their purpose and actually won't be able to be driven on the highways and byways of our great country. It is not a credible target. It is not the coalition saying this; industry itself has said that it is almost impossible—and I would say that it is impossible—to reach that target. Australians need and love to drive SUVs, four-wheel drives and utes right across the country to do the things we love to do and to get to and from work. If the Climate Change Authority's aggressive emissions reduction target were credible, it would take into account that this just simply will not happen. There are an estimated 350,000 electric vehicles on Australian roads currently. None of them is paying for the upgrade of those roads, I might add. New EV sales represent less than eight per cent of all new car sales. Somehow, that's going to be ratcheted up to see 50 per cent of new vehicles purchases being electric vehicles. That is going to be an incredible change in behaviour by the Australian public. That's not going to happen unless you tax petrol and diesel cars out of existence, which is exactly what the Labor Party is planning to do. That is what is going to happen.

There is no modelling to underpin these targets. There is no transparency. We stand with the Greens in saying that this was your opportunity, Labor, to put your credibility on the table and to say, 'We're setting these aggressive targets that are going to kill our economy and make people poorer.' You know that's what's going to happen, and that's why you are silent today.