Butler flags subsidies to hit electric vehicles target

Labor has indicated it would consider providing subsidies to meet its electric cars target.

Bill Shorten wants 50 per cent of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030.

Labor has indicated it would consider providing subsidies to meet its electric cars target — two days after Bill Shorten suggested it was merely an aspiration.

Spruiking Labor’s climate change policy in Tasmania yesterday, opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler said a Shorten government would “think about” subsidising electric vehicles if it became apparent its current policy settings were not enough to hit a 50 per cent target.

“A government at that point is going to have to think about this,” Mr Butler said alongside the ­Opposition Leader in the electorate of Braddon yesterday.

This was despite Mr Shorten saying this week Labor’s target — for electric cars to make up 50 per cent of new sales by 2030 — was merely an aspiration.

“What we’ve said is that by 2030 we would like to see half of the new cars sold be electric. That doesn’t mean that that will happen,” Mr Shorten told Nova Perth radio on Tuesday.

Labor plans to reach the target through supporting the rollout of charging centres, forcing half of government vehicles to be electric by 2030, and by giving businesses tax deductions for buying electric car fleets.

Mr Butler listed several industry and forecasting groups, including the Academy of Technology and Engineering, which argued electric cars would be cheaper than petrol or diesel ones by 2025.

“Frankly, after that happens you are going to have a boom in the new purchase of electric vehicles. I think in retrospect that ­50 per cent target of new sales, if that estimate from everyone in the industry is right, it will be seen as modest in retrospect,” he said.

Mr Shorten and Scott Morrison were both on the Apple Isle yesterday, with the Liberals targeting the Labor-held seats of Bass, Lyons and Braddon.

Campaigning in the electorate with Labor MP Justine Keay, who faces a tough fight to hold her seat, Mr Shorten declared his intention to turn northwest Tasmania into a “renewable energy zone” and announced a package for apprenticeships in the sector.

“We’ve got to start training … people to grab the job opportunities of the future that renewable ­energy provides,” the Opposition Leader said.