A Shorten Labor Government will establish a $57 million Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Innovation Strategy, so Australia grows the jobs and companies of the transport future.
Labor’s Strategy will make sure Australia take advantage of opportunities in electric vehicle (EV) and charging equipment assembly; component manufacture; design; engineering; and research.
The Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Innovation Strategy will be part of Labor’s National Electric Vehicle (EV) policy, and complements Labor’s EV target of 50 per cent of new vehicles sales by 2030.
Despite the Liberals’ sabotage, Australia already has a start in the EV industry: Nissan manufacturing parts for the Leaf in Melbourne; SEA Electric refits heavy vehicles for electric propulsion; ACE EV in Queensland manufactures small electric vehicles; Bosch in Melbourne build recharge infrastructure; Toyota develops hydrogen fuels; and global automotive design by Ford and General Motors.
Brisbane is also home to one of the world’s leading manufacturers of EV charging stations – Tritium.
These green shoots can grow into new jobs and opportunities for export if the Government stops pulling them up by the roots.
The Liberals goaded the major car manufacturers to leave Australia, but much of the supply chain has remained and can be rebuilt to service the new EV and component manufacturing industry.
Labor will strengthen Australia’s global role as a research and development and testing centre and extend our manufacturing capabilities in all vehicles using EV technology.
Labor’s Strategy will:
- Help companies create design and manufacturing jobs in electric and hydrogen automotive plants.
- Appoint a Supplier Advocate to be the coordinator and face of the overall transition plan and promote our capabilities and attract investment.
- Provide $30 million for an Advanced Engineering and Electric Mobility Research and Development initiative to increase Australia’s role in globally focussed research and development; and integrate that with local manufacturing and skill development opportunities.
- Provide $25 million in grant funding for research, commercialisation and enterprise capability development in vehicle electrification for the local components industry, and research sector.
- Labor will establish a tripartite Electric Vehicle Innovation Council for EV which brings industry, unions, government and researchers together to develop a national EV innovation roadmap and will map the broader EV supply chain -and identify priority investments and actions.
- Maximise industry development return on Commonwealth and state and territory government spending to give preference for suppliers developing design, R&D, EV and related capabilities in Australia.
- Ensure national access and safety concerns about EV charging in homes and commercial buildings are incorporated in Australian standards and in future revisions to the National Construction Code.
The Strategy will be integrated with the investment mandates of the $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Future Fund and the CEFC, and supported by Labor’s Australian Investment Guarantee.
It will also complement Labor’s commitment to develop a new hydrogen industry through our $1 billion Hydrogen Plan, to develop hydrogen for use in industry and transport, both here and abroad.
Additionally, Labor will also invest $2 million to support the establishment and operation a sodium-ion battery manufacturing plant in Geelong in partnership with Deakin University. Sodium-Ion batteries are a new technology both safer and with lower-cost raw materials than lithium-ion batteries.
Australia has retained a position as a leader in product development and automotive design, largely due to our world-class tertiary institutions, highly skilled and innovative workforce, strong intellectual property laws, and world class design, engineering and testing facilities.
Labor will build on and extend this capability so that Australian can take a leading role in the global transition to low emission transport and create jobs for the future.
End the chaos. Vote for change. Vote Labor.
