Mr BOWEN (McMahon—Minister for Climate Change and Energy) (16:38): I really do thank the honourable gentleman for his question. The question goes to bringing Australia in line with the policies in other countries, and that is a fair point for the honourable member to make, because it is the fact that Australia and Russia are the only two major economies without vehicle efficiency standards in place. The United States has had them in place since the mid-1970s—introduced, to be fair, by a conservative administration; President Gerald R Ford introduced vehicle efficiency standards in the United States at the time. It is the case that we had considerable catching up to do with the rest of the world, because the rest of the world has been introducing these standards and because Australia has been so late to the party when it comes to introducing the standards. Several governments have tried, but until now no government has followed through and delivered for Australian motorists. I've been reflecting over the parliamentary break, and I think I've been unfair to the member for Bradfield. I have pointed out his strong support for vehicle efficiency standards, but I think an observer could reach the conclusion that he was the only one on the other side. To his credit, he is a strong supporter of vehicle efficiency standards, but he wasn't the only one. Indeed, he of course had joint carriage with the then member for Kooyong and the then member for Flinders, Mr Hunt. He took it through cabinet on several occasions, to his credit. Everyone who was in cabinet at that time in 2016 and 2017 obviously signed it off. The Leader of the Opposition would have been in favour of it. There was a joint media statement—a big gold crest on the media statement—from all three ministers. It said in relation to the honourable member's question about international standards— The SPEAKER: The minister will pause. The minister was asked a question about why he's pursuing this policy. He is giving context as to why he's pursuing the policy. Just like the member for Griffith, I gave the same advice to the member for Fairfax. He's entitled to raise a point of order. Mr Ted O'Brien: The question went to the minister's comparison to the United States and the scheme he is introducing. The order is one of relevance. The question went to the United States having an annual reduction of 1.4. He's requiring Australia reduce it by 12 per cent on an annual rate. Can— The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. The minister needs to make sure his answer is relevant. The question contained detailed analysis by the member for Fairfax, and it finished with the question about why the minister is pursuing the question. I'm going to give him the call to make sure he's being relevant to that part of the question. He can deal with the others as he sees fit. Mr BOWEN: Certainly, Mr Speaker, and I appreciate the guidance. Australia does have a lot of catching up to do with the United States, who introduced these standards in the mid-1970s; we are seeking to catch up with them, yes, and that means we are ambitious. We are ambitious not for ourselves but for the Australian people to catch up with the United States. We're not the only ones. The member for Bradfield said in his statement—and it's directly relevant to international comparisons. He said: Although Australia accounts for less than two per cent of the global new vehicle market, it is becoming increasingly important that we harmonise our approaches to vehicle emissions with those in place in other countries. That is what we are seeking to do. We're not seeking to catch up with New Zealand or Europe, which have more ambitious standards. We are seeking to catch up with the United States. It is the case that they did it in the 1970s. We are trying to implement them in 2024, which comes considerably too late when you consider that John Howard went to the 2001 election promising, 'The coalition is negotiating new fuel efficiency standards for motor vehicles to reduce the amount of fuel consumed per kilometre travelled.' The Liberals kept talking about it. We will deliver it.