Electric dreams

There’s been a U-turn on EVs within the Morrison government. Katie Allen, the Liberal member for Higgins, purchased a Tesla Model 3 ($67,798 drive-away) two weeks ago.

Dr Katie Allen.

There’s been a U-turn on EVs within the Morrison government. Katie Allen, the Liberal member for Higgins, purchased a Tesla Model 3 ($67,798 drive-away) two weeks ago. “I love my Tesla, it’s like an iPhone on wheels,” she cheered to Strewth. Remarkably, the Elon Musk-mobile didn’t come fully charged! But Allen was able to give it a test drive before Melbourne went into lockdown. “It’s a bit like a dodgem car, you don’t use your foot on the brake at all. It stops when you take your foot off the accelerator,” she said. Very on brand, we’re told the Tesla is a “good Liberal blue” – the perfect colour for the car wrap with her name and face that Allen has planned for the next election campaign, much to the embarrassment of her four kids. Allen confessed she had slight range anxiety about her new EV, but hoped to test its limits with a trip from Melbourne to Canberra before the end of the year. “I think there’s no doubt EVs are coming, it’s just a matter of when they’ll get here,” she said. “We just need to make sure there’s infrastructure to support it, and that we back getting there sooner rather than later.” Allen doesn’t agree with Victoria’s 2.5 per cent km tax on EVs, but says she will be able to receive the state’s $3000 rebate. Meanwhile, Mike Freelander, the Labor member for Macarthur, sold his Mercedes Benz and purchased two Mazda 2 vehicles in May. And independent Zali Steggall has finally fulfilled her promise to go electric, trading in her gas-guzzling SUV for a hybrid.

Trent Zimmerman and Dr Katie Allen.

Park that thought

It’s quite a change of speed since Scott Morrison claimed Labor’s 2019 election policy — that EVs should comprise 50 per cent of new car sales by 2030 — would spell “the end of the weekend”. Cried the Prime Minister: “The sort of vehicles that Bill Shorten wants you to drive, you can’t get one for less than $45,000 and it won’t tow that boat, it won’t tow that trailer.” Michaelia Cash vowed to “stand by our tradies” and “save their utes” … an outburst described by Malcolm Turnbull as “peak crazy”. The Liberals’ lane change has been taking place slowly. The first indication came earlier this year, when Strewth revealed Finance Minister Simon Birmingham had leased two taxpayer-funded electronic vehicles — a Hyundai Ioniq and Tesla Model 3 — to chauffeur politicians around the Canberra Bubble™. It’s part of a two-year trial by the Finance Department to “assess the viability” for future Comcar fleets. We hear the Tesla Comcar is hot property and has left other drivers green with envy in the queue outside the House of Representatives. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr is offering two years’ free registration for locals who buy new, second-hand or converted electronic vehicles, (from now until mid-2024) and has scrapped motor vehicle stamp duty. Barr has also promised to expand the network of 14 charging stations within a 15-minute drive of Parliament House.

Scott Morrison.

It’s not a race

Health secretary Michael Lye was sent into Senate estimates to take the blame for Greg Hunt’s latest backtrack. The Health Minister claimed 70,000 aged-care workers had been given vaccines, but department data shows just 32,833 have received both jabs. “It’s like Yes Minister, without the humour,” the fully vaxxed Labor MP Peta Murphy quipped. Here’s how it played out in the room …

Lye: “The discussion around Minister Hunt using the 70,000 yesterday. The department provided those two columns as a cumulative number of 70,000, so that was an error in the department’s briefing.”

Labor senator Katy Gallagher: “Ah, Mr Hunt’s office been in touch?”

Lye: “No. No, no.”

Labor senator Murray Watt: “Well, hang on, hang on. Did the briefing say anything about whether it was referring to doses or workers?”

Lye: “No, no. It just conflated it.”

Gallagher: “So you’re taking the heat for his office getting cranky at everyone? Yeah right. We know. I’ve dealt with him on the phone, I know what he’s like. Rude.”

Watt: “Did he yell at you?”

Gallagher: “Yeah. I’m sure he yells at everybody.”

the thrill of the hunt pic.twitter.com/cdt19AiRLJ

— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) June 1, 2021

Thrill of the Hunt

The tale of Fay Miller comes to mind, the Katharine mayor who once copped a flurry of f-bombs from Hunt. The Health Minister was forced into a “sincere and genuine” public apology for his blue bedside manner after being outed as a swear bear by the Herald Sun in May 2018. As the story goes, Hunt told the septuagenarian to “f..king get over” herself during a private meeting in Canberra about contamination from RAAF Base Tindal. She said the minister leaned towards her, “pointed aggressively” in her face and said she needed to make former NT senator Nigel Scullion her “f...king best friend”. And then continued to swear. Hunt said he wasn’t aggressive, rather “spirited” with “strong opinions”. A characteristic with which former Health Department secretary Martin Bowles would likely disagree. The NT News responded to the verbally spicy revelations with the blunt headline “You are such a Hunt”. A twist on the small but energetic band of Labor MPs who call out “Alas poor Yorick” in question time, quietly confident those listening will connect the name of Shakespeare’s fellow of infinite jest with the minister’s surname.

Greg Hunt.

I’m on your side

Does Anthony Albanese think he can win over some voters in the upcoming State of Origin stoush? The Labor leader has shocked many from his home state by backing Queensland’s quest for two games. It’s been alleged the Queensland government threw $8 million at the NRL to host the opener in Townsville following Melbourne’s fourth lockdown – a move that forces the Blues to play consecutive games north of the border for the first time since 1982. NRL boss Andrew Abdo was apparently considering a neutral venue … but Switzerland (read: Adelaide) wasn’t available. The alarm bells were literally ringing on Tuesday at the start of Queensland’s origin camp in Bundaberg. The Maroons squad (and Shorten’s running mate Johnathan Thurston) were evacuated from a function after a Tina Turner impersonator’s fireworks set off a fire alarm. But we digress. “As a NSW person, Townsville getting the game is a good decision,” Albanese told Labor caucus on Tuesday. He acknowledged the “awful reason” the game has been moved from Victoria, but said it provided a huge opportunity for north Queensland. We’re told Albanese will be at the game next week with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. But the big question is — which side is Albo on?

Anthony Albanese and Annastacia Palaszczuk.

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