JO HAYLEN: Labor supports the Electric Vehicles (Revenue Arrangements) Bill 2021 and welcomes the sensible amendments agreed to by the Legislative Council last night in a marathon session. It showed where the vast majority of sensible voices in this place and the community are on the uptake of electric vehicles. The technology is moving very quickly and we want New South Wales to be a part of that. We want leadership in our State and leadership across the country. That is one of the missing key pieces. We await the decisions in Canberra so that we can be a part of what is an incredibly important move forward, particularly for those who use their cars a lot: people in western and south-western Sydney who travel great distances and, of course, in our regional and rural towns. They will benefit most from the opportunities that electric vehicles provide.

I also acknowledge the Hon. Daniel Mookhey in the other place, who led for Opposition in a long session and clearly articulated why the proposals put forward predominately by One Nation did not align with the vision of the majority of this place and the community. We want to see the proportion of our electric vehicle market drastically increased. At the moment electric vehicles are only 0.78 per cent of car sales in Australia. The bill and aspects of it that are connected to the Government's Electric Vehicle Strategy promises to increase that proportion by more than 50 per cent by 2031 and help our State to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. They are admirable goals. We want to see great ambition in this space. We support the targets and we want to make sure that the bill does what it says it will do.

I highlight our support for bringing forward the statutory review to two years. It is important that we assess success of the initiatives and take account of progress before the road user charge comes into operation. We are pleased there has been support for the amendment. A review of that progress in two years will ensure that we create local manufacturing jobs associated with electric vehicles. We remain concerned on this side of the House that opportunities may be missed. Huge elements of the supply chain come with the electric vehicle market: jobs mining lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper; manufacturing and refurbishing batteries; manufacturing, maintaining and installing the charging infrastructure; developing integration software and hardware development; and upskilling and training mechanics.

We can be a world leader in the EV supply chain and all the manufacturing elements, not just an exporter of materials and an importer of parts and cars. We need to be a part of that to create jobs for our kids in New South Wales. We are concerned that the Government strategy is not realising all of those opportunities. That is why the two‑year review is critical to ensuring it is the people of New South Wales who benefit from the revolution of electric vehicles. We want to make sure we get the results here. We also welcome the amendments that deal with the penalty regime. I acknowledge Ms Abigail Boyd and her work in that space. We were pleased to work cooperatively with her and members of the crossbench to see the penalty regime amended. Labor members in both Chambers raised concerns about the proposed penalty regime and whether it was the best approach. The amendments agreed to mitigate some of the potential unintended consequences on EV owners. Again, we will have the opportunity to review its implementation at the two-year review.

Nearly 20 per cent of Australia's total emissions come from the transport sector, with over 60 per cent of that portion attributable to light vehicles. It is very important that electric vehicles are a part of that mix and that we rapidly bring them online so we can meet our targets, reduce our emissions and ultimately do our part when it comes to climate change action. We are pleased to support the amended bill. We look forward to holding the Government to account in two years time to review its initiatives and uptake of electric vehicles well before the road user charge is introduced in New South Wales.