victoria ev tax high court outcome

Short version: the High Court struck down Victoria’s EV road‑user charge, finding it was an unconstitutional excise under section 90 of the Constitution. That forced Victoria to stop collecting the per‑kilometre levy, and any similar future road‑user charge would need to be a Commonwealth (federal) law, not a state one.

EV owners in Victoria no longer have to file odometer readings for that scheme, and the ruling sent a clear warning to other states mulling copy‑paste versions. Now comes the national bunfight over a fair road‑funding model that doesn’t kneecap EV uptake—ideally with fewer forms and more sense.