Letter
Tradies and weekends are safe
Credit to the Labor government for moving forward with fuel-efficiency standards. The Coalition considered it but squibbed after pressure from the car industry.
As John Quiggin concludes, The best time to introduce the policy was ten or more years ago. But the second-best time is now.
As Quiggin notes, a key aspect of the policy is that the national emissions limit does not apply to individual cars, but rather applies to the mix of vehicles sold. This means that the both the current and low-emissions versions of Australias most popular car, the petrol/diesel Ford Ranger ute, can still be imported and purchased. Tradies can still work, and campers can still get away on weekends. But more EVs will have to be imported to get the average under the limit. This is a good thing. The bestselling US electric ute is the Ford F150 Lightning. Its towing capacity is 4.5t compared to the Ford Ranger at 3.9t. Its cheaper to run and maintain and has outlets for power tools and appliances.
It’s convenient for the Coalition to oppose government policy and try another scare campaign, however it is clearly in the national interest to support fuel-efficiency standards.
— Ray Peck from Hawthorn