23 August 2019

The Green Party has made its stance on petrol-fuelled cars very clear; not only does it want to tax people who drive them, it would outlaw them altogether if it could, National’s Transport spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“Cabinet papers released under the Official Information Act reveal the Greens were working on a law change to ban fossil fuel vehicles from entering New Zealand by 2035.

“Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter can play this down, but the fact a Cabinet paper was produced shows she was working behind closed doors to change the law.

“Reducing emissions from our vehicle fleet is an important step in the fight against climate change. But it would be irresponsible to make petrol cars illegal so soon without a solid plan to help people into electric vehicles.

“Sadly, this Government thinks the best way to do that is to penalise Kiwis for buying petrol-fuelled cars regardless of whether or not they can afford an electric vehicle, or whether models exist that can cater to their needs.

“The best way to green our vehicle fleet is to incentivise, not penalise, the purchase of low-emission cars. Legislating higher-emitting vehicles out of the fleet will force many New Zealanders to retain them because they can't afford to switch.

“Now that we know a law change to ban petrol cars is being kicked around at the highest levels of Government, the Minister needs to be honest with New Zealanders about whether such a move will happen at any point in the future.”

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