Why are e-bikes suddenly all over Australia's streets? | ABC NEWS

What do illegal electric bikes have to do with Barnaby Joyce?When you think of illegal e -bikes, you might be picturing something like this.Or maybe a garage catching fire from a dodgy bike battery.Or even thinking about the massive increase in deaths and injuries on souped -up treadleys.But you're probably not thinking about Barnaby Joyce.Yet as strange as it sounds, there is a connection there.

It started in 2021 when Barnaby Joyce was Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister.And his assistant minister, Kevin Hogan, made a quiet but hugely significant change to the laws that regulate the kind of e -bikes that could be imported to Australia.Now, before then, e -bikes sold in Australia had to meet European standards, limited to 25 k's an hour and with motors capped at 250 watts.But Kevin Hogan removed e -bikes from the road vehicles.Standards Act, which essentially opened the door to allow e -bikes, regardless of their specifications or standards, to flow into Australia for the next five years.What we don't know is, why did he do it?

Well, we've tried asking Kevin Hogan and Barnaby Joyce, but we've had no response.And no -one in the industry seems to have a clue either.The change was considered so inconsequential at the time it was never even mentioned in Parliament.But according to an explanatory memorandum, that's a document that explains the purpose of a proposed law, the changes did go through consultation.It was put to the Strategic Vehicle Safety and Environment Group.Now that's made up entirely, almost entirely, of transport and motor vehicle industry groups.

So we asked some of them.Mostly they said, well, we didn't think it had much to do with us, so we didn't have much to say.But you know who was it asked?The peak body of bicycle manufacturers and retailers.

We found out about the change about four months later.We have been lobbying the federal government to re -establish it since that time because we understood the impact that had on the products, on the community.and on unfortunately the hospital admissions.

Now since then the number of people being admitted to Victorian emergency departments due to e -bike injuries has risen more than 400 percent.It's a similar state in New South Wales between 2023 and 2025 according to Sydney St Vincent's Hospital.Now, while we continue to ask questions to find out who's responsible for that significant law change years ago, it seems like only Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Hogan have the answers.