Calling and getting a result are two different things, and for independents like Zali Steggall, the current MP for Warringah, who is again calling for the adoption of electric vehicles, the problem is that for the past four years she hasn’t not had the power to get everything done in the Federal Parliament despite its constant discussions on climate change and electric vehicles.
Steggall doesn’t seem to understand that the real issue is the business infrastructure and the legislation and standards needed to police the industry the same way the auto industry is policed today, this has to be in place before dozens of thousands of electric vehicles are sold in Australia.
In what appears to have come as a shock to Steggall, she is suddenly confronted by a polarizing Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, who has risen to fame within days among the Warringah electorate by defending her views on transgender sport.
Many people I’ve spoken to in the electorate think she can beat Zali Steggall, a woke candidate who is now calling for lower emissions from transportation without any real structure on how the move to electric vehicles won’t end up costing the people of Australia tens of thousands of dollars on what they have to shell out today for a motor vehicle and the associated running and repair costs.
Katherine Deves
Deves is the candidate that radio, social media, TV and mass newspapers follow across Australia, and she receives publicity that the Zali camp would kill for.
Even the left-leaning media that claim Prime Minister Morrison is shielding Deves from the media are desperate to spin Deves’ messages in a negative light.
The only problem is that Deves has his measure with the liberals in the seat controlling his exposure to leftist media.
Morrison said of Deves today: “He is a strong individual who stands up for women and girls and fairness in sport. That’s what it’s about. A lot of people tried to shut her up and get her out. I’m definitely not one of those. I think it’s important that she feels able to raise these issues.
And anyone who wants us to walk on eggshells and try to force her out of the campaign, well, I think that says a lot more about how the debate is going in this country and why it’s important that people like Katherine Deves, where she feels strongly on this issue – on women’s and women’s sport – should be able to speak out and are”.
Steggal says that by the end of the decade she wants at least 76% of new cars sold to be electric, there’s no mention of charging infrastructure, battery replacement cost or what happens when thousands of vehicles stop. because they couldn’t refuel in time.
Take the issue of a common standard for charging nozzles so that all car models can be charged at the same charging stations, in the same way that diesel and petrol cars are filled today.
Currently, Tesla has one model of electric charger and Range Rover another.
Zalli Steggall
Steggall also failed to tell residents of Warringah that they may have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to replace old lithium batteries with new ones.
According to a Tesla owner invoice seen by Current Automotive, a full 75kWh battery replacement for a Model 3 costs around AU$23,550.00. The actual battery costs around $18,874 and that might be after just 100,000 miles.
Then there is the question of the number of charging stations needed in Australia to support millions of vehicles.
While electric cars are good for the environment, independent contenders such as Steggall seem to be able to deliver just one liner, which lacks substance or the outline of a plan to actually deliver a better Australia.
Warringah MP Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink, independent candidate for North Sydney (centre) and Sophie Scamps, independent candidate for Mackellar (right) are all rowing the same boat, glib understudy and no substance.
For Steggall, the real shock was that Deves, a well-presented lawyer, was grabbing millions of media space across Australia within days, and if Warringah voters had never heard of Deves before she was announced as a Liberal candidate in the electorate, now they are with mothers and men now debating her ability to replace Steggall as the candidate for Warringah.
His campaign is actually stepping up with the Liberals setting up a Warringah campaign HQ in rented offices in Brookvale and with a tradie husband, Deves has the media in mind with key outlets now following each of his movements.
Steggall has had at least three years to negotiate change in Canberra, but because she is a disempowered independent, she has been unable to translate any of her airy political ideas into tangible results.
She says that if neither political party wins a majority in the House of Representatives, she would seek to negotiate with the party with the most seats first.
Research in the federal archives reveals that independent MPs Helen Haines, Zali Steggall and Rebekha Sharkie voted with Labor in two out of three divisions in the 46th parliament, with the Morrison government using the data to recently warn Australians against supporting the “false independents” such as Steggall who emerges as a candidate for a problem.
Steggall voted 66.04% for Labor according to a study by the Parliamentary Library.
She claims that “very few people in Australia can currently have access to an electric vehicle”.
The reality is that for the electric vehicle to take off, there needs to be a sustainable business model in place across the entire EV spectrum.
There must be battery efficiency and fast-charging charging stations, there must also be purchasing efficiency and value in owning an electric vehicle and climate change is a particularly good reason to own an electric vehicle.
The used value for EV vehicles will be based on the remaining life of an EV battery and the cost of replacing a battery, all of those issues plus charging and the cost and time it takes to charge a vehicle needs to be addressed and if there is no policy framework or even more so a viable business proposition for businesses and the public to support, the longer it will take for EV technology to be adopted.
Electric Vehicle Council boss Behyad Jafari said the Morrison government had been too slow to promote the uptake of electric vehicles.
Really, why would you push a product when there’s no infrastructure in place to support mass electric vehicles. It’s up to corporations to provide the infrastructure and politicians to provide the policies around technology, as we’ve already seen hospitals on fire in the Warringah constituency as well as homes set on fire due to lithium battery charging issues . This is just another element that needs to be in place before the mass adoption of electric vehicles.
What Australia needs is a strong business plan backed by both business and politicians and most importantly government who are going to have to implement the switch to electric vehicles this is happening right now with the Morrison government whose policies seem to be based on substance and not flippancy. understudy and a tired cry for action on climate change.
Over the past week, several poster variations have appeared online.
