This week at the Wimmera Machinery Field Days it was great to catch up with car dealers about the huge impact Labor's family car tax will have on Mallee families. One Mallee dealer told me Labor's changes will take away the choice for customers with 90 per cent of their sales to be hit by Labor's family car tax.
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The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries has published its projections on what the new standards, potentially from January 1, will mean for Mallee car buyers. The popular Toyota LandCruiser could cost up to $25,050 more, the Ford Ranger up to $17,950, the Mitsubishi Outlander up to $12,390, and even hybrids like the Toyota RAV4 up to $4890 more from 2027.
Electric utes and larger EVs are inadequate for regional drivers. For example, this Mallee dealer told me an EV towing a trailer or caravan would have less than half the promoted distance the vehicle can to travel - hardly sustainable with such large distances to cover on our country roads. This dealer fears manufacturers will simply leave Australia due to Labor's rushed emission standards, further robbing Wimmera road users of choice of vehicle they drive.
I am also hearing significant concerns within the industry about the government monstering the motor industry if it does not roll over on this proposal.
According to the Australian Automobile Association, there are just 10 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) registered out of 13,264 vehicles in Horsham. In leafy Toorak in Melbourne, their BEV uptake is more than 17 times what it is in Horsham. Anyone that thinks Labor's family car tax will see Wimmera residents register more BEVs than Melburnians are kidding themselves.
The Albanese Labor government and Energy Minister Chris Bowen are hell bent on crashing through the objections I raise in parliament quoting Mallee dealers, their Labor lackies in parliament heckling that these claims are 'lies'. I am standing, strong backing my local dealers and Mallee community. With my Nationals colleagues we together are standing strong for regional Australians and fighting every day to stop Labor robbing the regions to buy votes in the inner cities.
