SBS News in Filipino, Monday 28 April 2025
The launch of the 24-hour Medicare service by the Albanese government is being described as a rebranding or merely a replica of the current service.
The Filipino community is in mourning following a tragic car-ramming incident in Vancouver that left eleven people dead.
EJ Obiena finishes in 7th place at the Xiamen leg of the Diamond League in China. SBS Filipino
28/04/2025 07:50 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
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Sky News AU
11-05-2025
- Sky News AU
Caleb Bond: Rescinded Labor election bribe exposes what Australians really think about electric vehicles
Bribery is an effective political tool. See the recent re-election of the Albanese government. But the rescission of a bribe also reveals people's true thoughts – and so it has been with electric vehicles. Over a decade of writing columns there are two topics in particular that have made me feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall – the taxation and regulation of tobacco and electric vehicle zealotry. Once again I've been proven right that people will only buy EVs if they're induced to do so. The fringe benefits tax exemption for plug-in hybrid cars finished at the end of March. For the year to date to March, plug-in hybrids made up 4.7 per cent of new car sales. And what happened after the subsidy was pulled? Sales made up 2.9 per cent of the market last month. Exactly the same thing has happened in Germany. The European EV market shrank by three per cent last year, mostly because German sales dropped by nearly 30 per cent after subsidies ended. German buyers could previously claim as much as €4,500 (AUD$7900) for buying an EV and manufacturers were entitled to a €2,250 (AUD$3,950) subsidy. No subsidy, no market. People are simply not interested in buying electric cars. It is a mendicant industry propped up by government subsidies. Battery electric vehicles fared slightly better at 5.9 per cent of the Australian market last month. But compare that to Labor's modelling before the 2022 election which said EVs would make up 89 per cent of new car sales by the end of the decade. The federal transport department later revised that down to 27 per cent but even that seems optimistic now. Just look at Tesla. No doubt the EV manufacturer has taken a hit due to Elon Musk's interventions in US politics but it doesn't entirely explain why, according to figures from the Electric Vehicle Council, sales have plummeted by more than 75 per cent in a year. Just 500 Tesla vehicles were sold in Australia last month – barely a quarter of what was sold in April last year. We've reached saturation point. Anyone who wants an electric vehicle already has one and people will only now buy them if they're cheap or induced to do so. Tesla was, more or less, the first mass producer of EVs and all the early adopters bought one. They already have their Teslas (which have no resale value) so to whom is Tesla meant to be selling new cars? If you're the sort of person who's considering an EV now, you'll be looking at a much cheaper Chinese model. And China is about the only place where EV sales have grown – by 40 per cent last year. That's because most EVs are now made in China and manufacturers are heavily subsidised by the government. People have no problem buying EVs – so long as they're cheap enough to outweigh every other metric. The types of cars Australians want are powered by diesel. The top selling cars last month were the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Toyota RAV4, Ford Everest and Toyota Prado. Anyone who still thinks EVs will be the answer to a clean environment has consumed too many of the heavy metals they put in the batteries. Caleb Bond is the Host of The Sunday Showdown, Sundays at 7.00pm and co-host of The Late Debate Monday – Thursday at 10.00pm as well as a Contributor. Bond also writes a weekly opinion column for The Advertiser.
SBS Australia
10-05-2025
- SBS Australia
SBS News in Filipino, Saturday 10 May 2025
Pope Leo XIV has celebrated his first Mass after his historic election as the first U-S born pope in the Catholic Church's 2,000-year history. Victorian taxi drivers could soon face repercussions for dodgy practices under a proposed legislative shake up giving more powers to the industry regulator. Department of Transportation in the Philippines launches immediate safety review of all major airports after deadly NAIA Terminal 1 crash. SBS Filipino 10/05/2025 06:02 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino 🔊 On Air – Tune in to SBS Filipino on radio stations across Australia and website live stream, and TV Channel 302 from 10 AM to 11 AM AEST daily. 📲 Catch up episodes and stories – Visit or stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Youtube Podcasts, and SBS Audio app. 📣 Follow Us on Social Media – Stay updated by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
News.com.au
06-05-2025
- News.com.au
Comment: Luxury car tax changes will make cars cheaper
COMMENT: Cars will get cheaper under a long-overdue deal being thrashed out between Europe and Australia. As reported on the front page of The Australian on Tuesday, the Albanese Government is working on a trade deal with Europe in hope of getting a better deal for Aussie farmers. In return, Europe wants to abolish the luxury car tax that has punished its automotive sector for 25 years. It's about time. Europe looks set to concede ground to Aussie farmers, hurting its agriculture sector in a bid to save its struggling automotive industry. MAJOR CAR BRANDS HIT THE SKIDS IN AUSTRALIA The rise of Chinese car brands is an emergency for car makers such as VW, which sells half as many cars in Australia today than it did 10 years ago. Fiat sells one tenth of the cars it did in 2015. European manufacturers are staring down the barrel of a disastrous shutdown that could see factories closed. It's a situation politicians are desperate to avoid. Having watched Citroen withdraw Australia last year, European leaders are keen to make their cars more competitive. Making a couple of concessions to end the 5 per cent vehicle import duty and 33 per cent luxury car tax will help them level the playing field. The car industry has pushed for more than a decade to have the luxury car tax (LCT) abolished. The tax adds an extra 33 cents to every $1 over $91,387 for most vehicles, or $80,567 for low-emissions cars. The EU has campaigned in the background for the tax to be axed – after all, many of its car makers deal in prestige cars. Let's list them. Alfa Romeo, Audi, Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lotus Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Volvo and Volkswagen are all hit by LCT. And some of the Euro brands that aren't traditional luxury brands – such as Fiat, Peugeot and Renault – are barely hanging on, struggling to compete with the tide of cheap cars flooding in from China. TOTALLY ADDICTED TO TAX The tax was introduced in 2000 to protect premium versions of locally built Holden and Ford sedans – cars that ceased production almost a decade ago. There is no local car industry to protect – but the government is addicted to the $1.2 billion in tax revenue paid by 'luxury' car buyers each year. I'm not surprised to see this issue come up shortly after the election. Few politicians would attempt to win favour with the voting public by making Maseratis cheaper for millionaires – particularly in a cost of living crisis. But that simple view ignores the fact that the tax applies most frequently to four-wheel-drives such as the Nissan Patrol and Toyota LandCruiser, which are more likely to be found on the farm than the motor yacht marina. You can pay more than $80,000 for a seven-seat Hyundai family SUV. You even have to pay luxury car tax on some versions of the Kia Carnival van. Cars are getting more expensive every day. Hybrid and electric power adds to the price of cars, as do safety features such as driver monitoring systems and lane keeping assistance elements designed to prevent head-on accidents. YOU WILL BE PAY SOMEWHERE ELSE Change will come. But it won't happen overnight. Auto industry insiders reckon it would be carefully wound back over a few years to avoid the whiplash of a sudden stop and change in prices, one that would have painful effects on residual values and short term sales. And you can be sure the government would try to find a way to make up the $1 billion-plus shortfall in revenue – perhaps through road user charges being tabled as an alternative to fuel excises and registration fees. In any case, it's time to put the brakes on this tax.
