LOW EMISSION VEHICLES

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:17): Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Members interjecting:

Mr SIBBONS: I will try to get through the interjections.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr SIBBONS: Can the Premier please advise the house of the state government's plans for low emission vehicles?

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:17): Tell us about your business—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —and why it's not going.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I want to thank the honourable member for this question. I am pleased to inform the house that the government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We will have some order so that we can hear the Premier's answer. The Premier.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Thank you. I want to thank the honourable member for this question. He has a very long and distinguished history in the car industry in this state; in fact, that is where I met him. I know that he has the car industry's interests at heart, and he is going to be very pleased with some news in the near future.

I am pleased to inform the house that the government remains committed to meeting our greenhouse gas targets and will continue to seek new ways of moving our state towards a lower carbon economy. Transport is a significant contributor to carbon emissions both in our state and worldwide. It is therefore a sector that we are targeting as part of our effort to transition South Australia to a lower carbon economy.

The South Australian government is responding to the policy imperatives of climate change, urban air quality and energy security in a number of ways, including through an overhaul of public transport and urban planning. We are also looking at opportunities in regard to low emissions vehicles.

The Premier's Climate Change Council recently provided the government with recommendations in relation to low emissions vehicles. The council's advice highlighted technological advances that are transforming the global automotive industry and potential benefits to South Australia of preparing for and accelerating the uptake of low emission vehicles.

The government's response to that advice, which was tabled in parliament on 15 September, includes a plan to develop a low emissions vehicle strategy and to ensure the involvement of industry experts through the establishment of an industry reference group. The strategy is being developed by a cross-agency working group.

It will outline the roles and future actions of government and will complement work that is already underway. When we released Tackling Climate Change—South Australia's Greenhouse Strategy in 2007, we set ourselves the target of converting 50 per cent of state government cars (that is, the state government vehicle fleet) to lower fuel emissions by 2010.

I am pleased to announce to the house that we reached that target earlier this year, and we are now working to develop a new emissions reduction target for the government fleet. As announced on 11 September, the government plans to replace more than 1,000 six-cylinder vehicles with four cylinder cars. This will not only reduce our carbon output by about 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year but it will also service our local economy. We plan to source the majority of our purchases from Holden's Elizabeth plant when its Cruze model rolls off the production line.

In addition, the government has recently concluded a voluntary sector agreement with the Royal Automobile Association (RAA) under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act. This agreement will focus on addressing climate change challenges relating to the automotive sector, including vehicle emissions.

We are also involved internationally. The South Australian government is a member of the climate group's EV20 initiative—a global initiative that aims to accelerate the deployment worldwide of plug-in electric vehicles. EV20 involves: local, state and national governments, automotive manufacturers, fleet owners, financiers and electric vehicle supply chain players. I attended the inaugural EV20 working group roundtable in Copenhagen in December last year, and the initiative has since been launched in Australia through a series of roundtables in Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney.

The Deutsche Bank estimates that there will be 51 models of plug-in electric vehicles in production globally by 2012. South Australia can benefit from being part of this next generation transport future, not just in trialling vehicles but also in preparing their more mainstream use. For example, the government has been working with the Adelaide City Council to install electric vehicle recharging points at the Adelaide Central Market. These will be in addition to the two recharging points already installed by the council at its Grote Street U-park and the recharging point for the council's electric bus, Tindo. The government is also taking part in trialling the first electric vehicles to enter the state—the Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle (iMiEV). Mitsubishi is officially the first volume production manufacturer to release electric vehicle technology in Australia.

The South Australian government will be joining the Adelaide City Council, the City of Marion, ETSA Utilities and the RAA in testing these new electric vehicles. Our focus will be on determining their overall effectiveness as fleet vehicles. The government has also committed $700,000 in seven years in conjunction with the Automotive CRC towards electric vehicle research, including: planning for electric vehicles, development of a household-level smart recharger and consumer views and behaviours.

In 2009 the government also organised the Global Green Challenge to encourage and demonstrate the development of new low emission vehicle technologies. Sixteen low emission production vehicles, 30 solar vehicles and one motorcycle competed in the journey from Darwin to Adelaide; and I am pleased to inform members that the event will be held again in 2011 and called the World Solar Challenge.