Albo turns off cruise control
With one eye on the election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese became deeply involved in Labor's backdown on vehicle emissions standards two weeks ago.
Up until last week, Energy Minister Chris Bowen was doubling down on Labor’s proposed fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles and deriding the “pathetic scare campaign” from the Coalition. This was despite pressure from motoring groups, car manufacturers and trading partners to give them more time to adapt to the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
Under the original policy formulated by Bowen and Transport Minister Catherine King, all new cars in Australia would have been forced to reduce emissions by 60% by the end of the decade.
Although different in specifics, the timeline was broadly in line with US President Joe Biden’s policy … until last week.
The Biden administration is now giving US automakers more time to comply with its vehicle emissions rules, requiring that between 30% and 56% of all new car sales be electric vehicles by 2032.
