Australia's sluggish uptake of electric cars may be about to speed up, as the government aims to increase supply and has put fuel emissions standards firmly on the agenda.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, speaking at a major EV summit in Canberra today, argued "now is the time" to consider fuel emissions standards as it starts developing the first national electric vehicles strategy.
Australia is a global laggard on electric vehicles; EVs account for only about 2 per cent of new car sales.
The government will also take action on dirty car emissions by introducing national fuel standards for manufacturers after a consultation period.
High prices, limited stock and long waitlists have excluded most from the electric vehicle market but a new national plan will help change that, Mr Bowen says.
The national strategy to be developed with state and territory leaders will aim to grow Australia's electric vehicle market and improve fuel efficiency standards.
Until now, Australia and Russia were the only nations in the 38-member OECD that either didn't have or weren't planning to introduce mandatory standards for the efficiency of new cars.
Advocates say that means manufacturers have no incentive to ship their electric vehicles to Australian shores, instead increasing the prospect of older, dirtier and less efficient models being dumped into the local market.
Meanwhile, the European Union's outgoing ambassador to Australia says the bloc remains ready and willing to sell Australia military equipment to plug any capability gaps arising from the cancellation of a French submarine contract.
The first nuclear-propelled submarines to be delivered by the US or UK under the new AUKUS agreement will not be ready for more than a decade.
Europe has also pushed for further cooperation in the artificial technology and cybersecurity space, with Brussels sending a letter of invitation to Australia to join a $146 billion research fund as an associate member.
A fart joke has had unintended consequences after an episode of Australian kids TV show Bluey was banned in the US.
Disney+ has cut the Family Meeting episode from the show's third season. It involves a part where Bluey's dad Bandit is accused of farting in front of his daughter.
Apparently that didn't meet the streaming service's guidelines and the episode was pulled.
The 2022 Great Australian Dog Survey has revealed cavoodles are our most popular dog breed and the most common name for dogs is Luna.
It also found that 65 per cent of dogs sleep in their owners' bedrooms and of those, almost three-quarters are allowed on the bed and almost half sleep in the sheets.
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