NVES policy must be reviewed frequently

Peak bodies in the trades and farming sectors are bracing for price rises in the vehicles that are essential to their industries, ­urging the government to commit to frequent reviews of the NVES.

Industry insiders said they were concerned the government’s NVES Bill indicated Labor sought to ‘bake-in targets and measures’ over five years as part of a political play to secure Greens support. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Peak bodies in the trades and farming sectors are bracing for price rises in the vehicles that are essential to their industries, ­urging the government to commit to frequent reviews of its National Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES) and a commitment to tweak the policy if it leads to major cost blowouts for businesses.

Industry insiders said they were concerned the government’s NVES Bill indicated Labor sought to “bake-in targets and measures” over five years as part of a political play to secure Greens support.

The Greens are yet to back the Bill and have tied their vote to the government agreeing to abandon their deal-making with the Coalition on offshore gas and petroleum resource rent tax reforms. The minor party does not intend to consider its final NVES position until after the May 14 budget.

Master Plumbers Association of NSW chief executive Nathaniel Smith said that despite the government watering down targets on light commercial vehicles from a 60 per cent emissions reductions cut to 50 per cent, the industry was not convinced the policy would not have significant economic consequences.

“Why I still have worries is because it’s still going to put uncertainty on what sort of vehicles are going to be coming into the market” he said. “How much will (businesses) be up for with these the new fuel-efficient vehicles and how effective are they going to be is a worry. And we are one of the few countries that have right-hand drive … so we have limited options for what we can get.

“It’s concerning people can’t rule out price increases.”

Toyota Australia chief executive Matthew Callachor on Tuesday welcomed Labor’s concessions, but said it would still be “a very big challenge” to achieve the fuel-efficiency targets.

Asked about price impacts on Toyota models, Mr Callachor said the Japanese motoring giant was focused on offering Australians “practical, capable and affordable vehicles”.

Labor’s Bill includes emissions headline limits from 2025 to 2029 rather than in a legislative instrument determined by the responsible minister. Any future NVES changes would need agreement of both houses of parliament.

Motoring industry sources said the responsible minister would be able to use a legislative instrument to determine headline limits after 2029, but that it must be stronger than previous years. If a headline limit was not determined, the target for the previous year carried forward.

A legislative commitment to review the NVES before the end of 2026 would not address changes to baked-in headline limits and more stringent future targets.

National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said a review in 2026 was too early to determine the Bill’s effectiveness.

“We do not think the review after 12 months allows enough time to determine the lasting impacts of the policy,” he said.

“The government says it does not expect significant impacts on the cost or availability of vehicles used by the agriculture sector … we think it’s only reasonable the legislation contains a clear requirement to review the policy’s impacts to ensure what the government is saying is correct.”

While farmers were happy to embrace fuel-efficient vehicles, if options were not there for them to buy the NVES, it would only drive up the cost of farming, he said.