Transcript - Radio Interview - ABC Radio Perth - Tuesday, 9 November

NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: Perth Labor MP Patrick Gorman has called in. Patrick, good morning to you, your reaction to this policy?

PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Well, what I hear from people in my community is they just want these cars to be more affordable. That little bit of help to get into the market. And that's what we've seen be so incredibly successful when it comes to people putting solar on their roofs, is that the government came and gave people that little bit of help to make it more affordable. And so I think that's the real missed opportunity of this. And there is obviously also an authenticity question for the Prime Minister when it comes to his commitment to electric cars.

MITSOPOULOS: OK, so how do you make them more affordable? What are the policies that you would put in place, or your party would put in place? Because the Prime Minister has made it very clear this morning, this is about choice, it's not about forcing people out of their existing cars.

GORMAN: I don't think anyone wants to force people into which colour or type of car they've got to drive. What Labor wants to do is cut the taxes on electric cars. Now, we've said that if we're elected, we'll cut the five percent import tariff on electric vehicles. So that means that they're about $2000, for your average car, cheaper. That is real practical stuff. And I would have thought, the Prime Minister always gives us lectures on taxes, I would have thought that he would want to cut taxes on electric cars. The other tax that we will cut is fringe benefits tax for electric vehicles. And what that means is that employers who provide many people here in Perth with cars as part of their remuneration packages will find it cheaper to give those cars to employees, and then it builds that second hand vehicle market. And that makes electric cars, whether you're buying a new car or you might be a student buying a second hand car, it means they're cheaper for everyone.

MITSOPOULOS:  Should they be classed as luxury cars anymore?

GORMAN: Well, what we're seeing is, and we saw a little bit of that with what Dr. Jones is saying, is that one of the problems is that we don't have enough of those cheaper and more affordable cars in the Australian market. Currently, there's just five cars under $60,000 available in Australia. But if you look at the United Kingdom, there's 24 different vehicles available. So it's really about making sure that we're an attractive destination for car manufacturers to send those affordable electric vehicles.

MITSOPOULOS: I'll leave it there. Oh, go on, sorry.

GORMAN: And these incentives will help do that.

MITSOPOULOS: I'll leave it there. Patrick Gorman, Thank you.