Interview with Adam Shirley, ABC 666 Canberra

ADAM SHIRLEY: Six minutes to eight. Well, the charge is on, powering up at Parliament House. They say it is the corridor, or corridors of power. Kristy McBain is the Federal Minister of Regional Development and a local Member for Eden-Monaro. Hello there Kristy McBain, good morning to you on a lot more EV chargers being at Parliament House. How much do you welcome that?

KRISTY MCBAIN: Good morning, Adam. Fantastic to see the ACT Government investing in those additional chargers at Parliament House, both in the public car parks and in the Members’ and Senators’ car parks. It’s a great thing, and we want to obviously be able to lead by example.

SHIRLEY: I wanted to clarify that the funding and the money is coming from a partnership of ActewAGL and the Federal Government, or the ACT Government, because some people might wonder why the ACT Government is investing in chargers on National Capital Land for a lot of FIFO workers, to put it bluntly.

MCBAIN: The partnership is happening with ActewAGL and the ACT Government. It’s part of their plan to roll out additional EV chargers across the ACT to deal with the surge that we’ve seen in electric vehicles in this place. It’s just another avenue that they’re exploring to increase the number of chargers across the Capital.

SHIRLEY: Per head, that’s a pretty solid number of fast chargers. I think the 22 and seven-kilowatt ones in the public gallery that were opened the other day or the public car park. I do think, though, about your constituents just down the road, for instance, in a place like Bungendore, where they’re just struggling to pull together enough crowdfunding for one charger. With your hat on as a local Member, what sort of disproportionate or even unfair distribution of chargers do you see when you look at the Parliament House situation and people on secondary roads in country towns who can’t even get one?

MCBAIN: What’s happening across the ACT is all part of the ACT Government’s plan for their zero emissions vehicle strategy. Obviously, we’d like to see more chargers across the country because we know that there are a lot of EV drivers out there who do still have some concerns about getting to and from, especially regional locations, and a lot of people who won’t invest in EVs at this stage because of range anxiety. We’re partnering with the NRMA to deliver nearly $40 million in funding for 117 EV charging stations across the country, making sure that we’re getting those on our major transport corridors so that we can get people from one location to the other. We want to make it possible for people to drive from Darwin to Perth or Broken Hill to Adelaide. It’s really important that we deal with some of those regional issues. Closer to home, there will be a charger in Yass as part of that rollout, but the NSW Government is also taking up this as well. They’re putting in 1,500 EV charging ports at tourism destinations, as part of their $10 million commitment for this round, which is an overall commitment of $209 million.

SHIRLEY: I guess my question goes to a perception of equity or fairness, though, from one of your local constituents in Braidwood, maybe down the coast, trying to get up and down the Clyde on one battery charge. Can you understand if they look at what’s happening at Parliament House and think, that’s very well for people on the public dime and can afford an electric car too, but it would be nice to get a bit more support our way?

MCBAIN: Absolutely. There are lots of people who live across regional Australia that see things happening in our major cities, who wonder why these things happen there. It’s not just EV chargers. You only have to look at the state of some of our schools to think, why is there $100 million going into a school in Sydney and not more money being spent in some of our schools across our regions.

SHIRLEY: Or your roads in your electorate as well. I drive them a lot and there’s still a lot that are in bad nick and that’s affecting local people.

MCBAIN: Absolutely. It’s fantastic to see the NSW Government actually acknowledge the toll that multiple natural disasters and storm events have had on our roads and contribute extra dollars right across regional NSW. I know Queanbeyan–Palerang Council got nearly $3.5 million dollars in extra funding to deal with some of their regional roads, which I think is a fantastic start and a great acknowledgement by the NSW Government that more needs to be done on our roads. It is all about equity and we want to make sure that we are working with communities to get them the assets that they need. That’s why collaboration through all levels of government is incredibly important. It’s one of the reasons that we brought back the Australian Council of Local Government, so that we can hear directly from locally-represented people about the priorities for their local communities across the country.

SHIRLEY: As opposed to a wish list, I’m guessing they’ve got a bit of an essential list, but that will unfold in the weeks and months ahead. Kristy McBain, we do appreciate your time. Thank you for it, Minister.

MCBAIN: Lovely to be with you.

ADAM SHIRLEY: That’s the Minister for Regional Development for the Federal Government, Kristy McBain, Member for Eden-Monaro as well.