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AUSTRALIANS who trade in older cars for more fuel-efficient vehicles will be eligible for a $2000 rebate under a new initiative unveiled by Labor.
Julia Gillard also announced stricter compulsory pollution standards for new cars from 2015, adding new elements to Labor's climate policy.
The Prime Minister said the $394 million cleaner car rebate would help take some 200,000 pre-1995 vehicles off the road over four years from January 1, 2011 to the end of 2014.
However, the rebate would only apply when motorists purchased extra-efficient vehicles, such as the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Holden Cruze or Hyundai Getz.
“The amount of carbon we anticipate saving through this measure by getting the 200,000 old cars off the road is one million tonnes,” Ms Gillard said at Beenleigh, near Brisbane.
“Australians own a lot of old motor cars, and those old cars guzzle a lot of petrol and they spew out a lot of pollution,” Ms Gillard told reporters in the marginal Labor-held electorate of Forde.
The policy is similar to US President Barack Obama's 2009 “cash for clunkers” policy, although that was also aimed at helping America's ailing car industry.
Ms Gillard admitted there were around two million old cars in Australia, and this policy would take only 200,000 off the road.
“Of course not everybody is in the position to trade in their old car and get a new car,” she said.
“But for those Australians that are thinking about maybe being able to make the decision, but are equivocating, need that extra bit of helping hand, this is that extra bit.”
The cost of the program will be met with cuts from other programs, including the government's solar and carbon capture and storage flagship programs, as well as the renewable energy bonus scheme.
Tony Abbott said the policy contradicted the view of Industry Minister Kim Carr, who last year rejected the need for a cash for clunkers scheme to stimulate new car sales.
“I should point out that just last year, the Industry Minister Senator Carr dismissed these programs as wasteful, complicated and an unnecessary use of finite resources,” the Opposition Leader said in Perth.
“So, certainly in bringing this program in the government seems to have humiliated the Industry Minister who was dead against these programs when they were first mooted last year.”
The Prime Minister also opened a new front against vehicle manufacturers, announcing tough new compulsory pollution standards for all new cars from 2015.
Emissions from light vehicles will be cut by 14 per cent by 2015 and 30 per cent by 2024, if Labor is re-elected.
Other recent changes to emissions standards sparked a sharp rebuke from vehicle manufacturers, who claimed the move put jobs at risk.
The 2015 start date would allow industry a four-year transition period to prepare for the new regime.
Today's announcements add to Labor's climate change policy, outlined yesterday.
The policy includes a crackdown on dirty power plants and a $1 billion investment in greening up the electricity grid.
Ms Gillard also wants to set up a 150-person Citizens Assembly to help the government nut out consensus on the difficult issue of a carbon price.
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