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Media Briefing – Australian Automobile Association
Greenpeace Australia Pacific has today called on Australia’s largest motoring clubs to condemn the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) for its repeated efforts, including with the fossil fuel car and petroleum lobbies, to water down limits on car pollution and slow the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia.
Documents released under Freedom of Information (FOI) reveal that the AAA has a long history of working alongside the fossil fuel car and petroleum lobby to push Federal Ministers to weaken vehicle emissions standards, and run scare campaigns against electric vehicles.
Comments attributable to Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Joe Rafalowicz:
“Greenpeace Australia Pacific believes that the AAA’s well-established lobbying for weakened new vehicle efficiency standards over a number of years, positions the organisation as a threat to the introduction of strong vehicle pollution caps.
“The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) claims to represent the interests of Australian motorists, as the peak body for state-based motoring organisations including the NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAA, RAC, RACT and the AANT.
“Yet the AAA’s lobbying appears to be in direct conflict with the interests of Australian motorists who would have saved nearly six billion dollars had fuel efficiency standards been introduced in 2016.
“It also conflicts with the positions of its motoring club members who have made submissions in support of the Government’s proposal for an NVES, commitments on climate change, and their support of the uptake of electric vehicles.
“It’s time for Australia’s largest motoring organisation to make clear if they stand for climate action or for the destructive fossil fuel industry.
“Pitching for more petrol-fuelled cars in 2024 is akin to the tobacco industry lobbying for weakened smoking laws or the asbestos industry lobbying for relaxed building standards. Greenpeace Australia Pacific urges policymakers to be informed and wary of the AAA and friends in their continued lobbying efforts.
“If Australia’s motoring organisations want to be on the right side of history, they should actively condemn their peak body, the AAA for their negative lobbying and scare campaigns against electric vehicles.
“If the AAA don’t clean up their act, their motoring organisation members should be prepared to quit their membership,” Mr Rafalowicz added.
It comes as Greenpeace called on pro-climate car makers to resign membership of the petrol-pushing Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) – an “irrelevant lobby group” that we believe should be renamed the ‘Full-Throttle Carbon Addicts Institute.
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An extensive media briefing in relation to these FOI documents is below. For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Lisa Wills on 0456 206 021