Despite all of the talk of electric cars and the Labor Party’s policy that 50 per cent of our vehicle fleet should be electric by 2030 little has been said about what impact that would have on government revenues. Petrol excise currently makes up a large proportion of Government revenue – from Tuesday’s budget paper expected to represent $19.7 billion in the 2019/2020 year – based on a fuel excise level of 41.2 cents a litre. So how is Bill Shorten going to make up the $10 odd million shortfall in petrol excise if he is successful in winning the election and implements his electric vehicle plan. A road user charge seems to be the answer replacing fuel excise with a charge across all vehicles for kilometres actually travelled. As I said earlier, Bill Shorten was asked by a rival radio station this week how long did it take to charge an electric car, his answer – depending on the state of the battery around 6 to 8 minutes. This shows an absolute lack of knowledge of electric car usage and technology and you wonder just how much detail has gone into the Labor Party’s electric vehicle plan. Of course the Electric Vehicle Council has quickly embraced Labor’s electric car proposal – describing it as “a game changer that will spur investment and start driving the nation into a cleaner transport future”. The Council Chief Executive Behyard Jafari suggesting Labor’s policy “was an exciting stride forward for the nation”. Really, never mind what it will cost the average family. I’m David Berthon

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