A US clean air and energy policy expert, Barbara Kiss, who is in Australia to help put the case for modifications to the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) before Canberra law makers, has contrasted the short timeframe for industry responses mandated by the Albanese government with the process of working up new regulations and laws in the United States.

Labor gave the auto industry only four weeks to digest and to discover the implications of, and then respond to, probably the most momentous structural change ever placed on any industry sector in the history of Australian governance.

Ms Kiss has been flown to Australia by the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) and the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) to assist with industry discussions in Canberra in which she is helping those drafting the NVES regulations to navigate the potential side-effects of the new Australian rules. 

The NVES rules are based on the rules in place in the US that Ms Kiss helped to negotiate with the US government.

A distinguished former automotive regulatory executive who helped design and implement a number of fuel efficiency policies in the US, Ms Kiss has more than 25 years at General Motors leading the automotive industry’s regulatory engagement with federal and state agencies on all aspects of the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA).

For the past fortnight Ms Kiss has been meeting with Canberra rule makers pointing out the various unintended consequences that might arise even from the very early days of the operations of the NVES which start as soon as January 1 2025.

Barbara Kiss

She has been offering alternative pathways adopted in the US regulations that might achieve the aims of the initiative in Australia but ease the pathway for the OEMs. Particular emphasis has been placed on preventing OEMs from leaving the Australian market

In an exclusive interview with GoAutoNews Premium, Ms Kiss said that such a short time of just four weeks for the industry to respond to such a complex and far-reaching set of new regulations was unprecedented in her experience.

“The shortest amount of time I ever received to work on a regulation once it was finally published, until my comments needed to go in, was 60 days. And that was mostly unprecedented. 

“Usually it was 90 days. And frankly, that was from the day that it was officially published. But we were having discussions beforehand and we were having discussions afterwards. So we were constantly talking. 

“It is always a recipe for disaster when it’s a surprise. I dealt with some of those during my career where the government dropped something primarily because of political reasons. Here’s this new giant sweeping change. 

“But how do you think that went over? 

“It went over very badly when the OEMs and the affected parties came back and asked: ‘What are you doing to us? You can’t do something without letting us have some discussion about it.” 

“When we did this for the first set of Obama standards, President Obama was elected, took the oath of office and six days later he told the EPA to go do this. 

“And within a couple of months, they had a draft framework. And we had a final rule within 15 months. 

“So it can be done fairly quickly but it took them 15 months from when the President took the reins and we had a final rule. There was a lot of discussion with a lot of folks during that time. 

“So the government knows how to do this in the US, but they do it very much out in the open with discussions directly with the OEMs and with all the affected parties, understanding the pros and the cons of how these are going to affect all the players in the marketplace. 

“Do we always all agree? No, but at least we’re working from a set of facts and understanding of the technical pieces that go into coming up with a rule that is achievable; one that gets to the end goals.”

Ms Kiss said that, in the two weeks that she has been meeting with Australian decision makers, she has been pointing out how the US rules, on which the NVES in Australia is being based, played out in the real world in America. 

“She said she has been getting a good reception in Canberra because “I’m not coming, waving my hands and crying about how terrible this is or predicting price rises of $25,000 a vehicle or anything like that. 

“We’re coming with actual facts and talking about real potential unintended consequences. 

James Voortman

“Is there a chance that they don’t listen? Yeah, but I think we’ve outlined some really, kind of scary results if it just goes forward, as it is, where the OEMs, who are the ones that are on the hook for compliance here, do have options.  

“And one of those options is that they just don’t want to play anymore and they walk away. That is a real option. I don’t think anyone really wants that to be the outcome,” Ms Kiss said.

Meanwhile the CEO of the AADA James Voortman told GoAutoNews Premium that the AADA and MTAA were working together to engage the government on the merits within the policy as well as modifications that can be made based on the US experience.

“We have identified a number of areas where those policies can be improved. There is a discussion around the consequences of the procedure of this. And I think we’ve introduced those issues in a respectful way – brands exiting the market, prices going up, models being withdrawn; those are all potential consequences if this model goes ahead unamended. 

“But I think, at this stage, we’re still very much in a constructive mode with the government.”

Mr Voortman said that having Ms Kiss meet with those drafting the rules has made a significant difference to the discussions.

“I think all of the meetings we’ve attended, especially with those departments that have had their hands on this for many, many months, I think Barbara has helped to enlighten them to some of the facts and I think this has crystallized some of their thinking. So I think it’s always good to bring an international perspective. 

“When the policy they have chosen has been benchmarked against the United States, I think it made absolute sense to bring someone to Australia who is intricately knowledgeable about the US system. 

“And I think that, combined with the data driven approach we have taken, has certainly made the people writing these policies and tasked with implementing the legislation take note and have a different perspective on this. 

Matt Hobbs

“So, look, we’re hopeful. We’re doing what we can. We can do no more, other than to present the facts and to give them all the perspectives. We have done all we can and hopefully they will listen,” he said.

The CEO of the MTAA, Matt Hobbs told GoAutoNews Premium that in addition to drawing on the expertise of Ms Kiss, the associations were using model introduction timetables and specifications projections from data house Blue Flag to give credibility to their discussions with Canberra.

“This gave us knowledge and credibility. It allowed us to really go back to the underlying foundation of what the thinking of the government is on this. I do see it’s helping and we are having different conversations than we were even two weeks ago.”