AMANDA KELLER, HOST: We've been talking on the show this morning about how some councils in Melbourne are going to charge SUVs and large utes more to park because of the space they take up and I guess what they add to our roads. Well, we're hearing this morning that the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced that EV trucks will be hitting our Sydney roads to tell us more. Hello, Prime Minister.
BRENDAN JONES, HOST: Here he is.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G’day. Good to be with you.
JONES: You too.
KELLER. So, how does this work, EV trucks? First of all, what's the advantages to us of having EV trucks?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's replacing old fuel thirsty trucks that are dirty and have not just high emissions, of course, but we've all seen big trucks on our streets emitting particulates out the back. These are clean trucks, they're emissions free. They will make an enormous difference. We're launching them together with Team Global Express at Eastern Creek today. We provided a $20 million grant through ARENA, the Australia Renewable Energy Agency, to get this project going as part of, we have a driving the nation fund and it'll make an enormous difference to replace one third of their vehicles that deliver things to supermarkets and deliver a range of goods right around Western Sydney with electric vehicles that are cleaner and cheaper to run.
JONES: Were you concerned just with that lithium ion fire that we just had in our news just before? Are these trucks got the same batteries as that? That seems to be a big concern with these battery powered things.
PRIME MINISTER: No, these are very safe. They'll reduce air pollution, they'll reduce noise as well. And this is the result of an upgrade at the depot there at Eastern Creek to have EV charging infrastructure in place with a battery storage system that's there from onsite solar panels. This is complete sustainability in action. The power from the sun powering these trucks that will then power around Western Sydney streets, making deliveries in a cheaper way, but importantly a cleaner way as well.
KELLER: And will the trucks get the same mileage? Like, can they go all day and then be charged at night?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely, they can. And because you have the solar panels producing the energy with battery storage they can then be charged up overnight or of course, some of the deliveries will be done after dark, you will have an extraordinarily successful system. This is an example of government working with business. And today I'm so looking forward to the launch there in Western Sydney. I'll be there with the local member, Ed Husic, it’s in his electorate of Chifley, as well as Chris Bowen, of course, another great Western Sydney representative, our Energy Minister. It's part of, we've got $130 million investment in electric vehicle fleet projects as part of the scheme. And we're partnering with businesses like Origin, Europcar, Patrick Terminals, JET Charge, a range of big businesses as well as Global Express, in order to deliver it. And the reason why they're keen on it as well is that it saves them money. And so it makes a lot of sense for the same reason why so many people in Western Sydney have solar panels on their roofs to reduce their energy bills, these trucks will reduce the bills for the companies who are involved.
KELLER: It's quite a turnaround, isn't it, from the 2019 election where our former Prime Minister said that your plans for electric vehicles would steal the weekend.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, exactly. And that was just a scare campaign with no basis, of course, and people know that technology makes a difference to our lives. I'm talking to you on a mobile phone. When I was first elected to Parliament, there wasn't internet, there weren't emails. The only thing that we had solar, really, of any substance, when I was younger, was a little solar panel in the corner of our calculator, pocket calculator.
JONES: Or you'd get into Dick Smith and get one of those ones on your hat and a little fan. That's what you'd get.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s right. The world's changing and with that comes advantages. There's the obvious challenge of climate change that we need to deal with, but it's also good economics because it's cheaper to run because the sun is free, but it also has huge health advantages. We know that from living in a city like Sydney, that there's a lot of air pollution around and cleaner vehicles will help with that as well.
JONES: And speaking of technology, with Congress and the US putting a ban on TikTok, are we going to do the same here in Australia, do you think?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we'll take advice, but we have no plans to do that. I think you've got to be pretty cautious. You've always got to have national security concerns front and centre, but you also need to acknowledge that for a whole lot of people, this provides a way of them communicating. And so we haven't got advice at this stage to do that. We don't use TikTok on government phones and that is an appropriate measure that we've put in place.
KELLER: Keep your dances coming.
JONES: Well, we have TikTok Tucker, as you know, Prime Minister, a segment where we make food from TikTok and eat it. And I was just hoping you would have banned it today.
KELLER: Today's was congealed butter with bacon in it. It looked better in TikTok than it was to eat.
PRIME MINISTER: Don’t do it.
JONES: Don't do it. Don't do it unless you consult your cardiologist.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. No, that's just so wrong. Both the combination. Just one of them would be wrong, to do both.
KELLER: It’s powering those trucks.
JONES: It's not right.
PRIME MINISTER: Say you got a leave pass from the PM to not eat it.
JONES: Too late now mate. It's in the digestive tract.
PRIME MINISTER: It's going to be worse later today. There are consequences.
JONES: Good prediction. Our Prime Minister. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, guys.