Press conference in Fairfield, NSW

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes. Well, thanks for coming, everyone. As hundreds of thousands of Australians are doing the Easter commute this long weekend, we thought it's a good idea to give Australians an update on how the rollout of EV charging is going, and it is going well.

100 new fast charging sites in the first quarter of 2024, bringing the total to 900. That brings us to a total of 3000 public charging sites, regular charging sites with 7000 charging sockets. This is the Federal Government, the State Governments and the private sector working together.

Over Easter, even as I've been in the community, I've had many people say to me they're thinking about buying a new EV. They want their next vehicle to be a new EV, but they want to know there's enough charging. They also want to know there's more choices. And again, there is some encouraging news there 35 models of EVs available when we came to office in 2022, 100 now, and of course, more to come once we bring in our new Vehicle Efficiency Standards, which will come into force subject to Parliament approval on the first of January next year.

So, better choices, better range. Better range due to more charging and of course, cheaper EV's because of our electric vehicle tax cut, which has been in force for some time and which has really driven the big increase in electric vehicle take up. Two thirds of the electric vehicles on the road today were sold under the Albanese Government. Two thirds have been sold since we came to office. So, this is good news for those Australians who want better choices of EV's. As I keep saying, this is about choice. More efficient vehicles, hybrids, more efficient petrol and diesel vehicles as well, giving Australians better options as they travel around the country this Easter long weekend and into the future. We saw long queues at charging a couple of Christmases ago. We've been pretty keen to make sure that charging keeps up with EV take up and I'm very pleased with these figures that we're releasing today. Happy to take questions. We've got two journos on the phone. A couple journos here might go here first.

JOURNALIST: Mister Bowen, why was it essential for you and the Prime Minister to take separate jets to the solar announcement in the Hunter?

CHRIS BOWEN: That's a fair question - we don't normally comment on the RAAF jets, but in this case it's a fair question so, we will. The Air Force advised that the most efficient way of getting the Prime Minister and two Cabinet Ministers to the Liddell Power Station was to go to Scone Airport, where the runway was not rated for the Prime Minister's normal large jet. As you know, the Prime Minister always travels with the Royal Australian Air Force - all Prime Ministers have for living memory as long as certainly I've been involved. That's for security reasons and quite appropriate. Prime Minister has a large jet available to him that would normally be what we take. The runway at Scone wasn't strong enough to take the large jet so the Air Force recommended and took the decision for two small jets.

JOURNALIST: It was impossible for you to go together in the one plane?

CHRIS BOWEN: Even the small jets weren't fully laden because of the weight restrictions on the - even if we had, the Prime Minister's security detail and other people involved going from, as you'd imagine, the Prime Ministerial visit, two Cabinet Ministers. We limited the number of staff and even then, that was the Air Force advice - the most efficient way of getting us there.

JOURNALIST: Minister, how many more fast charging sites do you reckon you'll be able to roll out this year?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, you know, we have a policy of one fast charger once every 150 kilometres and we are rolling that out. I opened the new ones, I was very pleased, in Katherine and Tennant Creek and Alice Springs a few weeks ago. The advice to me, working with the NRMA is that obviously there's been some challenges rolling them out, because we're rolling them out in places where there's no electricity grid in many instances. But we are very confident of seeing a very big uptake, very big uptick in fast charging over the next three to four months and seeing that policy rolling out continually. We've seen more in South Australia just the last couple of weeks as well under the Driving The Nation Policy.

JOURNALIST: And how are negotiations about the new Vehicle Efficiency Standards going with the Greens and the prospects of that?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, we introduced the legislation last week. This has been a reform that's been called for by motoring groups, by the climate groups for 20 years. It's 20 years overdue. I'm confident the Parliament will pass it because I'm confident the Parliament won't miss the opportunity to introduce a reform which has been 20 years overdue.

JOURNALIST: Mister Bowen, there's been a concern among interest groups about the use of non-disclosure agreements in government consultations, including the environment and energy space, but also IR, even in religious freedom legislation. Is this a growing trend that's happening, and is it a worrying sign for transparency?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Matthew, I mean the one I know most about is the Vehicle Efficiency Standards consultations, obviously. And in that instance, these car companies came to us and said they wanted to share commercial in confidence data with the government and asked for the negotiations or the consultations to be held in that light. And so, we agreed to that, and therefore there were there were those sorts of agreements entered into.

But also, in terms of the Vehicle Efficiency Standards, there were two public consultation papers, thousands of submissions. There was also the preferred model put out, thousands of submissions, all public, all worked through. So, there will always be a combination of public consultation and private consultations.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the Opposition says getting more electric cars into the market is going to make cars more expensive. They are a little bit more expensive than their combustion engine equivalent cars, aren't they?

CHRIS BOWEN: Some are, and the cost is coming down. The cost is coming down of EV's. I mean, this is just a repetition of the last - you know, it was 2019 when we were told EV's would end the weekend and wouldn't tow your boat and wouldn't tow your caravan. Australians disagree. As I said, I've been out and about all Easter in my community here. I've had people saying to me, "Thinking about buying an EV, thinking about buying a hybrid, what do you think of the options?". There's huge interest and Australians know that this is the way of the future. So, the Opposition can keep their head in the sand and pretend that EV's aren't happening around the world and shouldn't happen here. I think Australians sent them a memo about that in 2022. If they want to tell Australians they didn't get that memo, it's a matter for them. Any other questions? We might go the phone just to be sure.

CHLOE BOURAS: Yes. Hi, Minister. Chloe Bouras-

CHRIS BOWEN: I've got Chloe and then Isabel, if that's okay. Yeah, Chloe.

CHLOE BOURAS: Thank you. Minister, just looking at the news poll out today, does it suggest that Labor is heading towards a minority government?

CHRIS BOWEN: You would expect, you would expect Chloe, that I would be focused not on newspolls this far out from an election, but on doing the job. Now, the Australian people will have their say sooner rather than later - it's a matter for the Prime Minister. We're well into this term and we'll be putting forward our record and we'll be putting forward our policies. Peter Dutton has not put forward a single policy since the last election, apart from nuclear energy. And we are looking forward to getting the details of that very, very soon.

CHLOE BOURAS: Just on that though, Western Australia was so critical to the last Federal Election. Does it worry you, though, that support seems to be [indistinct].

CHRIS BOWEN: We take no seat for granted, no voter for granted in Western Australia or any other state. Isabel.

JOURNALIST: Minister, hi. You said there's 3000 regular charging sites now, 7000 sockets, according to your report. But 83,000 people drive EV's now, 100,000 in the coming months. Aren't we well below where we need to be in terms of charging sites?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, what we need to do is make sure that we're catering for demand. Now, of course, EV's don't need charging all the time or at every stop. You can obviously time your charging. But what I want to do is see more EV chargers roll out to keep up with that very strong growing EV demand. So, I agree with you in that respect - there's more to do. We've only just started rolling out our Driving The Nation chargers. There's more to do, but these figures are very encouraging.

JOURNALIST: So, what can we expect to see, you know, over the course of the year? How many more are in the works?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, as I said before, we're expecting a big uptick of our policy of 115 chargers, that's one once every 150 kilometres. But that is just part of what's happening. You've got State Governments rolling out chargers - State Governments are doing a good job. The private companies, the charging companies, Tesla is rolling out chargers. So, I would expect to see similar figures. We have 90 per cent more available today than were available the Christmas before last, and I would expect a similar trend of growth this year.

JOURNALIST: On the charging side, some research suggests that 95 per cent of electric car drivers, drivers actually charge at home or office. So, do you think energy prices at homes and offices could be the deciding factor for somebody to make the switch to electric?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, you're certainly right that most people charge at home, but this is really about giving Australians the confidence that they can go through the longer trips. You know, Australians who buy an EV factor in that they're going to make their trip to work and back every day and they've got to charge at home, most of them, and that's fine. But many Australians I talk to want to know - we might just let this gentleman leave.

JOURNALIST: If only it was an EV.

CHRIS BOWEN: It's not an EV. No, not that one. Australians want to know if they want to go for that longer journey, for that great Australian road trip, that family holiday, that they've got options as well. And I think this - that's the reason why we're putting these figures out today, to show Australians, because I think a lot of Australians don't realise just how fast the charging is happening, that actually you can make this purchase. You can make this choice with the self-confidence to know that there will be a charger there when you need it.

JOURNALIST: Sorry, the question was about energy prices and how [indistinct].

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, yes, and of course, Australians will factor in their energy prices compared to their petrol diesel prices. Isabel, were you done?

JOURNALIST: Minister, just one more. On a separate topic, The National Retail Association has released its 2024 Sentiment Report. 77 per cent of retailers expect their overheads to worsen this year, citing energy costs as their primary concern. Is there anything that they can look forward to in this Budget?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, of course. Well, let me say two things, Isabel. Of course, a couple of weeks ago, the Australian Energy Regulator released their default market offer, their draft default market offer, which showed reductions in energy prices for residences and small businesses, up to 10 per cent in South Australia, for example.

But of course, there's more to do and we have said we are very alive to the need for more cost-of-living relief that's appropriately designed. The Treasurer said that, the Prime Minister and I have said that in relation to the Budget. And, of course, the Budget is a few weeks away and we'll have more to say, the Treasurer in particular, on Budget night. We might wrap it up there, guys, thanks very much.