Feebate – the government’s reverse Robin Hood scheme

Matt Burgess joins host Ben Craven to discuss the government’s feebate policy which launches in April 2022.

The policy is egregiously regressive. Buyers of new EVs including the Tesla Model 3 will receive $8,625, paid for by people who buy more affordable petrol and diesel vehicles.

Feebate taxes three times more imported vehicles than it subsidises, and could add thousands of dollars to the cost of secondhand cars.

The scheme will not reduce emissions by a single tonne since transport is already covered by the ETS emissions cap. Those cheques to high-income households, paid for in part by low-income households, will do nothing to lower emissions.