The CEO of the Electric Vehicle Council, Behyad Jafari, has warned Australia is being used as a "dumping ground" by car manufacturers, and has called for stronger policy action to boost "purple collar workers" to drive production of a local electric vehicle manufacturing industry.
Speaking exclusively to The Business Of, a podcast from the UNSW Business School, Mr Jafari said past policy inaction and a lack of regulation had relegated Australia to the slow lane of the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. "We're talking about Australia being treated as a dumping ground. Certain car manufacturers are going to say, 'Well, selling that car that's older, less efficient, has less technology in it, that's more profitable for us. Why don't we send those cars to Australia where these regulations don't exist?'"
Mr Jafari, whose background is in renewable energy, said the result will be "perverse outcomes" for Australian car buyers, the local EV industry, and the environment. He highlighted speed bumps created by the policy stalemate, and what it would take to unwind the hands-off approach to EV investment from previous governments.
The need for "purple-collar" skilled workers
Mr Jafari says that while EVs alone won't be able to take Australia's car manufacturing industry back to its golden days, there is untapped potential for certain EV components to be produced in the country that could even position Australian workers with unique "purple collar" skills.
"We absolutely could bring car manufacturing back to Australia at a reasonably significant scale. What we have to understand is that for electric cars, modern-day vehicle manufacturing looks pretty different to how it looked back in the 50s. It's what we call 'purple collar'. It's technicians, engineers, and people who have reasonably high skills and reasonably high pay."
"Manufacturers are looking for the quality of the accreditation, the quality of the education, and we have that in Australia. There are these advantages we have that could help us get car manufacturing back," Mr Jafari told The Business Of.
