Coalition proposes repeal of new-vehicle emissions standard

Coalition proposes repeal, not an immediate rule change

The Coalition has put repeal of Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) in its eight-point energy plan. If it wins government, the Opposition would seek to remove the law requiring car makers to supply more efficient new vehicles. It is a proposal, not a change to the rules currently applying to manufacturers. ²⁴

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told the ABC on 23 September that a Coalition government would introduce a bill within 30 days of taking office to remove the vehicle standard, along with other climate measures. Capital Brief reported on 22 September, before the plan was unveiled, that the Coalition intended to pass the changes within its first 30 days. Taylor’s later, narrower commitment was to introduce legislation in that period, not to have repeal completed by then. ²⁷

The proposed legislation would also repeal the Climate Change Act and remove the safeguard mechanism, which places emissions requirements on large industrial facilities. The Coalition wants to lift federal prohibitions on nuclear energy and revoke four offshore wind zones. The ABC reported that lifting the nuclear prohibition would require Senate support from Labor or the Greens, given the chamber’s composition. ²⁷

What the vehicle standard does

The NVES sets average emissions targets across the new vehicles each manufacturer supplies. According to Female First’s account of the rules, companies that exceed their targets can face financial penalties, while those performing better can generate credits. Ground News’s summary of automotive coverage notes that the standard does not ban high-emitting vehicles such as diesel utes: their emissions count towards a manufacturer’s fleet result. ³¹

The Nightly reported that the current plan calls for average emissions from new passenger-car fleets to fall by 59 per cent by 2029 and from light-commercial fleets by 48 per cent. In its separate report on utes, The Nightly put the light-commercial fleet target at 180 grams of CO₂ per kilometre for 2026 and 150g/km for 2027. Those are fleet-average targets, not emissions limits that each individual ute must meet. ⁴⁶

The Nightly reported that shadow energy minister Dan Tehan argued the standard would increase costs for diesel utes and four-wheel drives. That is the Coalition’s case against the policy, rather than an established price effect of the proposed repeal. The report cited a typical new diesel Toyota HiLux at 182g/km, illustrating why a manufacturer’s mix of vehicles matters under a fleet-average system. ⁶

New-car market at the time of the proposal

The proposal comes as electric vehicles account for a larger share of Australian new-vehicle sales. The Nightly reported 27,089 battery-electric vehicle sales in August 2026, or 24.9 per cent of the market, compared with 25,824 petrol-vehicle deliveries that month. Female First, citing figures highlighted by the Electric Vehicle Council, reported that battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles together held a 36 per cent share in August. Those figures describe one month’s sales, not an annual result. ⁶³

Female First reported that Australia had passed 500,000 battery-electric cars on the road and that motorists could choose from almost 200 EV models. It also reported an automotive-industry call for policy stability after the repeal pledge. Neither those market figures nor the industry response establishes what vehicle prices or model availability would be if the law were repealed. ³

How the position has developed

The Coalition’s 2026 proposal goes further than the position described by the ABC in November 2025. At that time, the ABC reported a Coalition policy to scrap penalties under the new-vehicle standard. The Nightly’s account of the September 2026 plan instead describes scrapping the standard itself; Taylor’s subsequent statement specifies legislation to get rid of it. ⁵⁴

The vehicle measure also sits within a broader shift away from mandatory emissions reductions. The Nightly reported Tehan’s position that reductions by major industrial emitters should be voluntary, while the ABC reported the Coalition’s stated priority of energy affordability and reliability. The proposed vehicle-law repeal would still need to be enacted before it could change manufacturers’ obligations. ²⁴