An 8,000-strong petition advocating for national fuel efficiency standards has been presented to parliament.
The action was organised by local woman Debi Thornton as part of her national campaign to encourage importers to send vehicles to Australia that save drivers money and keep pollution to a minimum.
“I went to Parliament House to attend a meeting organised by Heidi Lee Douglas of Solar Citizens with the office of Chris Bowen, Minister for Energy and Climate Change to find out what they need from a community support perspective to bring in the strongest possible standards, and what are the blockers to this process,” Thornton said.
Thornton’s visit comes in the background of the Electric Vehicle Summit held in Canberra last week which saw industry, government and community groups come together to discuss the issues and opportunities for encouraging EV uptake in Australia.
Member for Robertson Dr Gordon Reid wrote to Thornton recently saying he had made representations to Chris Bowen encouraging him to consider the petition.
Debi drove an EV down to Canberra and back though pointedly discovered there were no public charging stations in Parliament House. Saying “I had to stop at Goulbourn on the way back to charge, which gave me more than enough change to get me back to Copacabana”
Her petition is still open for people to add their names to the campaign, it can be accessed at Change.org by searching Fuel Efficiency Standards.
David Abrahams