$1bn fund to back Australian low emissions technology

After previously warning electric vehicles would “end the weekend” Scott Morrison has denied the Coalition’s new policy encouraging uptake of green cars is a backflip.

After previously warning electric vehicles would “end the weekend” Scott Morrison has denied the Coalition’s new policy encouraging uptake of green cars is a backflip.

The PM was in Melbourne on Tuesday to spruik the federal government’s new $250 million investment to drive uptake of EVs and prepare for the transition away from petrol cars by readying the power grid and building public charging stations.

Mr Morrison rejected suggestions he had been against EVs during the 2019 election, arguing he had only opposed Labor’s specific policy.

“I don’t have a problem with electric vehicles, I just have a problem with governments telling people … what vehicles they should drive and where,” he said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese was scathing of the government’s EV backflip.

Scott Morrison and Liberal Member for Higgins Katie Allen chat to diners in a Melbourne cafe. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“They, during the last campaign, said electric vehicles would ‘end the weekend’ and now … in the lead-up to an election campaign … they want to encourage uptake,” he said.

Mr Albanese (pictured) said with companies like Volvo, Toyota and Volkswagen already setting dates to phase out the manufacture of new petrol cars, Australia risked falling ­behind under the government’s “inadequate” strategy.

Earlier this year Labor announced its own plan to make the vehicles cheaper by removing the excise and fringe benefits tax on green cars.

“What that will do is encourage the uptake of electric vehicles by fleets,” Mr Albanese said. “That’s a major way in which new cars enter the market.”

The Australian Automobile Association described the government’s plan as a “missed opportunity” with managing director Michael Bradley saying as a small player in the ­global car market, Australia needed policies to “actively ­incentivise” brands to sell here.

$1bn fund powering Morrison’s net zero plan

A new billion-dollar fund will invest in low emissions steel, aluminium, livestock feed, batteries and other technologies in a bid to ensure Australian green business ideas can compete globally.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Wednesday announce the fund, which will be administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and include $500 million from the federal government matched dollar-for-dollar with private investment.

The combined $1bn will be used to make venture capital investments in Australian start-ups and innovative businesses helping them to scale up and close the technology gap needed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits the Toyota Hydrogen Centre in Altona to unveil a new $250m electric vehicle plan on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Mr Morrison said the plan was to back Australian businesses by creating an “environment for their successful ideas to thrive”.

“Australia can become a world leader in creating low emissions technology that is both affordable and scalable, helping get emissions down while creating jobs,” he said.

“Our plan to reach net zero by 2050 is … focused on technology not taxes, and this fund backs in Australian companies to find new solutions.”

Technology potentially eligible for funding include carbon capture and storage, techniques to reduce CO2 emissions in the production of steel and aluminium and livestock feed technologies that reduce methane emissions from cattle.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor on the unofficial campaign trail in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Improvements in solar panels, lighter and smaller battery cases with fewer parts and more efficient battery cells would also be considered for investment.

It is also hoped the fund will send a strong signal to global investors they can confidentially spend billions of dollars in Australia’s low emissions technology sector in the coming decades.

Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said the funding would help Australian innovators develop their intellectual property and grow their business.

“It will address a gap in the Australian market, where currently small, complex, technology-focused start-ups can be considered to be too risky to finance,” he said.

Mr Taylor said the government had committed more than $21bn of Commonwealth investment in low emissions technologies by 2030, which was expected to generate about three to five times as much in co-investment from the private sector and other levels of government.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison gets a haircut at a barber shop during a visit to Malvern in Melbourne Eastern suburbs as the unofficial election campaigning intensifies. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a cafe during a visit to Malvern in Melbourne Eastern suburbs. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

The government will introduce legislation to create the new $1bn fund, which will include changes to enable the CEFC to invest in carbon capture and storage.

Labor has repeatedly blocked previous attempts by the Coalition to expand the use of the CEFC and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to also include investment in carbon capture.

Labor’s energy and climate change spokesman Chris Bowen said this week the party would continue to oppose this use.

“That’s diverting money away from renewable energy installations,” he said.

“The government puts too much store in carbon capture and storage, uses it as an excuse to avoid reducing emissions in other ways.”