Press Conference, Canberra

MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, CHRIS BOWEN:  Well, thanks for coming everyone. several weeks ago Minister King and I announced that we would be releasing a discussion paper on the National Electric Vehicle Strategy. And today, we are delivering on that discussion paper today, Catherine and I are asking the Australian people's feedback on the journey to give Australians better choice of more electric vehicles more no and low emissions vehicles. As you know, the transport sector is generally a big part of our emissions. 19% of Australia's emissions come from the transport sector, that's the second largest emitter in Australia. If we're going to achieve our ambition to meet and beat our 43% emissions reduction target, then transport is going to play a role. This is also about choice. We want Australians to have real choices when it comes to electric vehicles, we know that demand for electric vehicles is already way up, you know that when a new electric vehicle comes on sale, it sells out very, very quickly, you've got to have your wits about you. And get online very smartly, to be able to get an electric vehicle in good time. Australians deserve better choices. Some people say electric vehicles are the preserve of the well off. Well, that is at least to some degree, a deliberate result of policy. We want Australians of all wealth, of all incomes to have choice. In other countries, there are cheaper electric vehicles available. Our policy settings haven't encouraged that. And so we want to have that discussion with the Australian people. To those who say we shouldn't be encouraging electric vehicles into Australia, they're really saying they want electric vehicles to continue to be the preserve of those who are well off. We want those choices available to all. And that's the discussion we are having with the Australian people, there are a lot of opportunities for Australia. I saw that firsthand in the United States last week, when I saw the wide range of electric vehicles available there, there is such a thing as electric utes, there is such a thing as electric trucks. Of course, the technology is improving all the time and the getting cheaper every day. But they are not by and large available in Australia. And we want to have a conversation, a real conversation with Australian people about the best ways of fixing that. There's opportunities for manufacturing Minister Husic is leading that work. He's doing great work in developing the National Reconstruction Fund and the battery precinct and other initiatives. But of course, the more we have an electric vehicle market in Australia, the more that will support potential manufacturing and support Ed in that important work. So we're releasing this paper today. It's out for discussion until the end of October, we welcome all views or feedback submissions. And then we will get further updates to the Australian people after that I look forward to working very, very closely with Catherine and with other ministerial colleagues to continue this conversation.
 
MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, CATHERINE KING: Thanks, Chris. And it's terrific to be able to, I guess, demonstrate the partnerships that are working across government to actually make sure that we hit our emissions target. And we recognize very strongly transport has a significant role to play. But it's also about consumer choice about providing opportunities for people across this great land to be able to if they choose, to access electric vehicles. We know that without any government work, looking at what the incentives might be, where the barriers might be, how we actually help Australians make decisions and be able to have this choice that it'll be business as usual. And this really is what this consultation paper is about. It is looking across a range of incentives and barriers to try and encourage the uptake of electric vehicles in this country. Obviously I will have carriage of fuel efficiency standards, as well as other parts of the transport sector that are beyond this paper. But I do thank Chris, for the collaborative work and look forward to hearing from the many Australians who I know, who talked to me across this vast land, including in the regions where I am from, about how we can make sure that that choice is available in the Australian market. I think we're both happy to take questions.
 
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] could this paper pave the way for setting targets of uptake by 2030, 2035, 2040?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: No, that's not contemplated in the paper, because that's not our intention. It  is not the case. I see some people have asserted that's the case. It's not correct.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, motorists tomorrow will see a doubling of their fuel excise. What are you doing about the fiscal consequences of a large EV rollout? Where people are not contributing to that pool of money that goes to your budget to build the roads?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Catherine may choose to add. But that's not something this paper is going to deal with. It does mention that that's a conversation to be had into the future, including with the states in terms of a holistic approach. But it's not something we're contemplating at the moment. You're right. The new government is proceeding with the plans laid out by the previous government that they legislated. And that will be a difficult day for Australians who buy petrol and one of the options we want to provide is Australia's to get access to more cars, which don't require petrol at all.
 
CATHERINE KING:  And take up a couple of your points too. I mean, people should not be seeing tomorrow because we know the fuel excesses on the wholesale price so that tomorrow, the price shouldn't suddenly rise at all. And we've got the ACCC obviously taking a good look at that. So, we don't want to see people rushing to the browsers because that price, it will slowly, slowly come up as that wholesale the amount in people's-- in petrol stations tanks go. I think that this paper really is about trying to look at what are the disincentives currently in place for electric vehicle uptake? How do we remove those? What are the incentives that we can put in place to actually do that? There's a broader conversation, obviously, that is not new. It's not new, about as we see the increase in the uptake to electric vehicles and we see what we're exactly what we want to see people not using fuel cars, not having to pay those exorbitant prices for petrol, how we actually fund infrastructure, and that is a broader conversation that we will need to have with the states at some point. But that's not what this paper is about today.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, this paper is very positive about the possibilities of fuel efficiency standards, what they could bring to Australia. Is this something you would like to see introduced in the country?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, that's the conversation we're having with the Australian people. The government will take into account all feedback, and submissions, and Catherine and I will take a proposal to the Cabinet. And it will we'll work through all the feedback. We've made our views very clear that we think this is conversation we need to have.
 
JOURNALIST: Given that there have been questions by the AEMO and others that Australia will be able to keep lights on in coming years, with the number of coal fired generators coming offline. Can somebody who buys an electric car in the next year or two, be confident that the electrons will be there when they want to charge and at a cost that is reasonable?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I mean, this is part of the entire journey that the country and the world is on. And electric vehicles also provide in due course, potential to be part of the grid stability, because electric vehicles can feed back into the grid as well as take off the grid. So yes, of course. These are issues that have been worked through but AEMO works very, very closely with the States and with me to ensure reliable energy supply, and that will continue.
 
JOURNALIST: I had a question on gas prices and gas supply. Minister, do you concede that the federal government has reached the point where they will have to impose some form of either price and or supply control on LNG exports from the East Coast given the looming shortfall and the market forecast?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: I don't concede anything, Mike, I point out that Minister Madeline King is very actively engaged with Australia's gas companies as she as of course she should be and is. And she'll have more to say when those discussions have reached a more final conclusion.
 
JOURNALIST: You mentioned that there's going to be opportunities for manufacturing in the country. Now, the report mentions expanding heavy vehicle manufacturing. Why is it not looking at the ways to support the development of commercial vehicle manufacturing?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: I don't think you can conclude just because buses are mentioned that that means other things might not be on the agenda, particularly Mr. Husic's work.
 
CATHERINE KING: Yeah, but also what I would point out in the moment that the National Land Transport Act precludes the Commonwealth investing in fleet upgrades. So it's not actually part of that, it’s almost a pilot, what we've done is partnered, it was an election announcement probably not widely reported. But we've agreed to partner with the Western Australian Government to actually look at the manufacture of electric buses within their fleet, and actually look at the uptake around that. They've done some great work in rail, they are incredibly keen to work with us in partnership to actually look at broader fleet issues. So there's a lot of work going on. This is obviously about trying to provide opportunities for consumers and for passenger vehicles. But there is lots of work going on in other parts of portfolios.
 
JOURNALIST: Possibly one for both of you. Just following on in terms of car manufacturing, I know Minister Husic has indicated, you know, it's something that the Albanese government would like to consider in terms of making electric vehicles here. How realistic do you think it is that Australia's car manufacturing industry will actually get started again? And what do you think would be, you know, a timeframe in which we could expect that to happen?
 
CATHERINE KING: I think that the real opportunities, and you'll have heard Minister Husic talk about this, is around components around, you know, batteries, in particular about actually being able to manufacture that, but also across the broader manufacturing sector, what are the components in renewable energy or solar panels. We've talked about the real problems in terms of security of our energy supply in terms of that, and those sorts of things are more important. Now of course, it is incredibly disappointing that we saw the previous government basically drive the car industry off our shores. And that actually had implications for the complex design of research and development, because the car industry in particular, was very sophisticated and that had spin offs into other manufacturing areas. But this really I think the work that Ed's doing is really about how can we get batteries, how can we get other components needed for electric vehicles here, and if there is an industry that wants to manufacture, a company that wants to start manufacturing cars here, we will be there supporting them every single inch of the way.
 
JOURNALIST: We can just follow up on that sorry, yeah, Tesla has indicated it would be open to manufacturing vehicles here. Is that something you would...
 
CATHERINE KING: Great, absolutely.
 
CHRIS BOWEN: And we're very excited as Catherine says, right up and down and supply chain. The economics of electric vehicle manufacturing is very different to traditional internal combustion engines. Whether it is for vehicles, or as Catherine says components of vehicles along the way. I saw this firsthand in the United States last week, people were very interested in Australia. And that's why we work closely with Minister Husic. And as I said at the outset, the more we have an electric vehicle market in Australia, the more that would support electric vehicle component, and indeed, potentially more in due course, manufacturing.
 
JOURNALIST: Queensland today has lifted its renewed renewable energy target to 70% by 2032. Do you welcome that commitment? What implication does that have for the grid as well?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Fantastic announcement today by Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mick de Brenni, real leadership from the Queensland Government, I continue to work closely with them with all state ministers, across the board on our national energy transformation partnership, Minister de Brenni was good enough to keep me in the loop as to the development of that work. I warmly welcome it. Of course, the state targets are already embedded in the federal projections and targets. But, you know, I welcome further progress. The great state of Queensland has produced much of Australia's energy for many, many decades and will continue to produce much of Australia's energy for many decades to come and indeed become a renewable energy, super power and part of our export capacity and the leadership that Annastacia and Mick has provided is an important part of that journey, and I warmly embrace it.
 
JOURNALIST: The clocks obviously ticking and all this stuff? What sort of timeline are you putting on this legislation? When would you like to see stuff based on this discussion paper introduced?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Look, the submissions are open till the end of October. Let's just, let us work through might I say, in the normal, careful, methodical way of the Albanese government.
 
JOURNALIST: Pre-election modelling based on your target assumes that new electric vehicles, new car sales by 2030 to be 89%. So that was based on the Labor’s existing policies. So why do you need additional policies to increase uptake when your own modelling says it'll be 9 out of 10 sold?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: That was a result of modelling. It wasn't a target and it wasn't frankly, it wasn't material to the 43% emissions reduction given it takes some time for the fleet to turnover. Because we want Australians to have real choices. And we want electric vehicles to be cheaper and more available, because they’re cheaper to run, cheaper to maintain, better for the environment. Wonderful to drive. We want as many Australians as possible to have real choice and availability.
 
JOURNALIST: What's your thinking and how are you approaching the problem of what is actually an EV? Is it in your mind this fixed bit of technology. Is it an electric motor with a battery, or is there scope for other forms of low emissions technology?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Fair question. Yeah. We see it as a no emissions or low emissions car. It can be hydrogen fuel cell. It can be electric battery, or indeed, certainly as reflected in our legislation, our electric vehicle tax cut, plug-in hybrid. We regard these as all being of a similar nature.
 
JOURNALIST: You wouldn't regard current hybrids, not the plug in...
 
CHRIS BOWEN: A plug-in hybrid would qualify, a non-plug-in would not.
 
JOURNALIST: Given the Greens public suggestions that they'd like to see hybrids removed from the excise cuts, have you got an update?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Government doesn't intend to change its position. I note the comments of the chief executive Electric Vehicle Council BJ Jafari, who has supports that position and has called for the legislation to pass expeditiously.
 
JOURNALIST: Given you don't have to pass legislation on the safeguard mechanism? What sort of timeframe will it be in place?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: On 1 July next year.
 
JOURNALIST: Looking into the value chain, you know, given the huge demand for critical minerals globally, how are you going to ensure that the mining companies retain sufficient domestic supply of critical minerals to establish strong battery manufacturing?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I think that's part of the conversation that we need to have. We want not just to be the world's largest provider of lithium, we want to be adding value to that lithium, whether it again, whether it's full development to a battery in the first instance, or whether it's more processing. That's in Australia's best interest, you know, a very small proportion of the value of lithium in total, when it's eventually produced is excised for the country, when we extract it from the ground. The value comes when you're adding value. And we want to see Australia doing pilot will work closely with the mining companies, not just lithium, you know, nine out of the 10 minerals and rare earths necessary for battery are under Australia's land mass. And that's a very great opportunity for the country, but not just to dig it out to add value.
 
JOURNALIST: Is the government considering any export controls or perhaps something like a gas trigger for critical minerals?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: That's not on our agenda
 
JOURNALIST: Just on buildings, apartment buildings, charges, the ACT has got a policy that it's going to be mandated for new buildings from next year. Is there anything the federal government can do to encourage that nationwide?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Minister Husic has led a process through the National Building Ministers Council, and as Industry Minister, he is the effect the National Building Minister, to improve the situation in relation to new buildings and we warmly embrace that work.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, you've got very close ties to Indonesia. Now, obviously, they talk about that then nickel and not wanting to send overseas money to build things in Indonesia, given they have this huge capacity for renewable minerals, green minerals and so do we, has there been any discussion about forming partnerships between Tunisia and Australia or maybe like forming a some sort of larger initiative that could help us exploit those results?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, Minister Arifin Tasrif and I have signed an exchange of letters to work together on critical minerals and, and renewable energy manufacturing and Minister Madeline King has been involved in those discussions as well. And yes, we have established, I've established, government has established an annual energy dialogue with Indonesia, with Minister Arifin Tasrif and we will continue to engage in that dialogue.
 
JOURNALIST: As you're in charge of infrastructure, when when do we see charging stations in Parliament House?
 
CHRIS BOWEN: Great question.
 
CATHERINE KING: It is a very good question. I think I've signed a letter I think decided saying that we should have electric vehicle charging stations.  I think a number of MPs have of course that is with the Department of Parliamentary Services and matter for the speaker and the presiding officers around that. I think all of us would very much like to see that happen.

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