A few things need to be appreciated about this. First, introducing vehicle emissions standards was not even an ALP election promise, it only became part of the Government‘s agenda after the election, so that clearly means they need to tread carefully lest Murdoch/Sky scream “broken promise” every day from now until May 2025.
Second, do not confuse the process to determine whether or not Australia should introduce vehicle emissions standards (the process the Government has just completed, with the decision that we
will have them) with the process to determine what those standards will be (the short timeframe process that has just started). You can’t do both of those things at the same time, otherwise the first process can be criticised as illegitimate as it would imply the decision to introduce emissions standards has already been made
without consultation.
Finally, introducing a standard like this is not just a matter of Government diktat from on-high, to come into effect immediately, unless your objective is to implement an ill-thought-through policy that has lots of gaps and holes, stuff that no-one thought about (because there was inadequate consultation) and a policy that will lead to chaos, controversy, complete industry disruption, corporate disobedience, and a change of Government in 2025. Just think about all the pieces of the puzzle that need to be defined,
in full detail:
- Full technical definition of what the emissions standard will be (we may or may not simply ‘pinch’ a standard used elsewhere, but even to do that requires time and effort to decided which one you pick, and why)
- Decision on when it will start, or how it will be phased in and over what time period
- How the standard will be measured and enforced, and to what vehicle categories the standard will apply
- What penalties will apply if the standard is not met
- Exceptions or appeal mechanisms if the standards can’t be met through force majeure events
- Consideration of supply chain issues and what is practically achievable in terms of meeting the standards given global vehicle production. There is no point introducing a standard if it turns out it is simply impossible to meet.
And that’s just some issues off the top of my head. I’m not a public policy expert, nor an industry expert, there will be a whole host of issues that need to be worked through to define a new set of rules that an entire industry will need to abide by.
A little less cynicism and a little more appreciation that we don’t live under a dictatorship would not go astray.
