Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would scrap penalties for car companies who supply too many high-emissions vehicles if elected.
The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) imposes pollution benchmarks for carmakers on new vehicles and tax them if they exceed it.
Under the measure to come into effect on July 1, manufacturers pay a penalty of $100 for each gram per kilometre of CO2 they overrun their benchmark.
Mr Dutton on Friday will announce he would remove the penalties if is elected, but would keep the standards in place to encourage car makers to supply more efficient vehicles.
The new emissions standards are applied to the average of all cars sold by a car manufacturer, meaning the sale of high-emissions vehicles can be offset by the sale of enough low-emissions vehicles to ensure the company does not exceed its CO2 cap.
The move is part of Labor’s attempts to drive the uptake of electric vehicles in order to assist in Australia hitting Paris Agreement targets, but the opposition in the past has argued the measure would increase car prices.
The scheme is estimated to add about $9,700 to the cost of a Toyota RAV4, and $14,400 to the cost of a Ford Ranger.
Mr Dutton deemed the measure a “tax on families who need a reliable car and small businesses trying to grow”.
“Instead of making life easier, Labor is making it harder and more expensive,” he added.
“We want cleaner, cheaper cars on Australian roads as we head towards net zero by 2050, but forcing unfair penalties on car makers and consumers is not the answer.”
It came after Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Ted O’Brien clashed in a fiery debate about the future of Australia’s energy policy on Thursday., with power bills and climate change weighing heavily on voters’ minds this federal election.
The Energy Minister was grilled on multiple occasions during the debate about Labor’s $275 power price promise, with Mr O’Brien requesting an apology for failing to deliver this reduction in energy bills.
“The Albanese government went to the election last time promising a $275 reduction (in) household power bills,” the shadow minister said.
“The Treasurer last night could not even bring himself to say a simple word, sorry – sorry we got it wrong, sorry we promised you all through even the term of government a $275 reduction (in) household bills, but actually you’re paying well over $1,000.
“I hope Chris takes the opportunity today just to look down the barrel of the camera and say, ‘Australians, we got it wrong, sorry’.”
Mr Bowen earlier in the debate said Labor could only pledge that power would be cheaper under the Albanese government than the Coalition, but failed to give any kind of dollar figure or percentage reduction.
He said anybody who predicts energy prices was “making a punt” and refused to promise a dollar figure Aussies could expect to see their bills reduce by.
Despite this, Mr O’Brien stood by the Frontier Economics’ modelling that predicted specific reductions in power bills for Aussies under a Coalition government.
