It is hard not to see almost every policy announcement the government is making at the moment through the lens of knowing it will needle the former Coalition parties (do not underestimate the government’s desire to make sure the split in the parties is as long and painful as possible).
Chris Bowen has chosen today to announce a new partnership between the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Hyundai Capital Australia “to reduce the upfront cost of EV ownership by offering discounted finance on eligible Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles”.
Electric vehicles is just one of the Liberal/Nationals flashpoints. After developing an electric vehicle policy of their own (because you know, Australia was becoming the dumping ground of the world for petrol vehicles) they then trashed it in 2019 because of the ‘war on the weekend’ and big dumb utes. Then the former coalition put a lot of money into raising the instant tax asset write off which turbo charged the sale of big dumb utes in Australia, and now no one not in a big dumb ute can see in parking lots.
So Bowen’s announcement, while part of the Labor government’s ongoing policy, is also bait to get someone in the Nationals and Liberal party to say something stupid about EVs.
The announcement, in case you were wondering:
Eligible customers could save a minimum of 0.5 per cent and up to 1.0 per cent on their
finance rate. On a $70,000 loan, a 1.0 per cent discount over five years could save more than $1,900 in interest costs. The discounted finance will be available for new, fully electric vehicles priced below the luxury car tax threshold, supporting households and small businesses to make the
switch to cleaner transport.
Bowen also says: 2025 added a record 156 000 EVs to Australia’s roads, with December 2025 seeing
more sales records for EVs with reached a record monthly share of 16.7%