‘Crush them or fine them’ public backlash over dumped Chinese EVs
Australians are fuming after a move from one of China’s biggest companies is set to threaten a long-held Aussie tradition.
Australians have unleashed on Chinese automaker Build Your Dreams (BYD) after thousands of its electric vehicles were dumped at a popular theme park.
Kiama Council confirmed the vehicles were being stored at Jamberoo Action Park, which sits about 120km south of Sydney, without council approval.
The owners have since lodged a development action (DA), but until that’s approved the site cannot operate as a logistics or storage centre.
The saga revealed exclusively by News Corp, sparked a wave of outrage online.
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Hundreds of readers and locals are calling for council to take tough action against both BYD and the property owners.
Commenters said the council was right to act, describing the car park’s use as “blatantly illegal” and a “clear misuse of the property”.
Many argued the site’s approved zoning for theme park day parking had been ignored.
“Illegal. This is not zoned for this purpose,” one commenter, Greg wrote.
“The car park is for day parking visitors to the main Water Park business. It is not a dumping ground or long-term warehouse,” another user said.
Many accused the companies involved of sidestepping local planning rules to cut costs.
Several readers were frustrated that a development application was only lodged after council issued compliance notices.
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“The DA should have been submitted before the storage began,” Jeff said.
“A DA can’t be retrospective,” another user Wills added.
“The cars need to be removed and then an application submitted for permission.”
Others called for council to reject the application altogether and force removal of the vehicles, describing them as “illegally parked, every single one.”
The strongest reactions came from readers who called for the council to take hard-line enforcement action.
“If I park my car illegally I can get daily fines between 100 and 500 dollars. I’d like to see the same applied to each car,” Dixon said.
“Council should send their Rangers out and give every car a $100 parking ticket. The best part is they can do this every day until the cars are removed and the $160,000/day revenue stream can give their lucky residents a rates reduction this year,” CL said.
Others went further.
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“Council should give them two weeks to be removed or run an auction and sell them off then fine the owners of Jamberoo Action Park,” Stephen said.
“The owners should been fined heavily for doing this and the cars transported back to China until they find a proper LEGAL place to store the vehicles in our country.”
Jamberoo Action Park has long been a popular destination for Aussie families during the summer months and it is uncertain over what this development might have for the capacity of the park.
Several commenters even suggested the unregistered vehicles should be impounded, sold, or crushed if not removed.
While BYD has maintained the site is managed by an external logistics partner.
However, the company has recently taken control of its own logistics operations in Australia after ending its partnership with distributor EVDirect in mid 2025.
It remains unclear who is responsible for the vehicles now sitting idle - or when they’ll be moved.
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Originally published as ‘Crush them or fine them’ public backlash over dumped Chinese EVs
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