Road Vehicle Standards Bill 2018 and others

The majority voted in favour of an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time". That is parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. The amendment was introduced by Victorian Senator Janet Rice (Greens).

Motion text

At the end of the motion, add:

", but the Senate notes that:

(a) the Ministerial Forum on Vehicle Emissions was established in October 2015 to address emissions from motor vehicles;

(b) the Draft Regulation Impact Statement on Vehicle emissions standards for cleaner air released by the Ministerial Forum notes that:

(i) Australia is estimated to have experienced a 68 per cent increase in deaths attributable to air pollution during the period 2005 to 2010, with total of 1,483 deaths in 2010; and

(ii) it is suggested that, in OECD countries, road transport accounts for approximately half of the cost of the health impact of air pollution (including these preventable deaths);

(c) while the Prime Minister insists that we will meet our Paris targets 'in a canter', the transport sector is now responsible for 19 per cent of Australian greenhouse gas emissions and has continued to grow in emissions year on year since 2001;

(d) despite two discussion papers, three draft regulation impact statements, two additional reports and over three years of work, there has been no substantive government action to reduce emissions from motor vehicles; and

(e) the Government has proven itself completely unable to deliver meaningful reductions in vehicle emissions and therefore cannot be trusted to reduce deaths from vehicle pollution or meet our international climate change obligations."