Statement - Victoria in the national electric vehicle slow lane

Statement – Victoria in the national electric vehicle slow lane

8 June 2023.

Minister for Climate Action, Lily D’Ambrosio, has confirmed that the Labor Government will be unable to achieve its commitment of at least 50 per cent of all new light vehicle sales to be electric, by 2030.

In May 2021, Labor announced its Zero Emissions Vehicle Roadmap, which included a target of achieving at least 50 per cent of all new light vehicle sales to be zero emissions by 2030.

At the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) hearings today, the Minister confirmed that only 6.6 percent of new light vehicles are electric.

These figures confirm that Victoria will be unbale to achieve Labor’s commitment.

Victoria is a laggard, across Australia, with the slowest uptake across the nation of new electric vehicles.

The confirmation that Victoria is in the slow lane on electric vehicles, comes a day after the State Labor Government confirmed it would cut the $3000 subsidy for Victorians who buy new electric vehicles.

This comes on top of Labor’s electric vehicle tax, which punishes those who chose to make the switch, acting as a further disincentive.

Shadow Minister for Climate Change, James Newbury, said: “The Labor Government is overseeing the worst electric vehicle take-up in the country, and has cut incentive programs, because they have run out of money”.

“Labor does a lot of talking about taking climate action, but their record on electric vehicles proves they are full of a lot of hot air”.

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change