Construction begins on WA EV network

The Australian Government say they are ensuring the nation has a reliable and available stockpile of fuel to protect consumers from major disruptions to supply.

The guaranteed minimum stock levels of transport fuels will improve domestic fuel reserves. This will protect motorists, businesses and industries from future market turmoil and the crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

From 1 July 2023, the Minimum Stockholding Obligation will require Australia’s two refineries, and our major importers of refined fuels, to hold baseline stocks of: • petrol; 24 days, increasing to 27 days in 2024 for importers • diesel fuel; 20 days, increasing to 32 in 2024 for importers • jet fuel; 24 days, increasing to 27 days in 2024 for importers.

Refiners and importers will be required to report stock levels fortnightly, then weekly from 1 July 2024.

locations on Western Australia's main electricity grid, the South West Interconnected System, throughout 2023.

The contract for the installation of the standard and fast chargers will be awarded to several local WA companies over the duration of the project.

The WA EV Network will stretch from Kununurra in the north, to Esperance in the south and east to Eucla. The $20 million project extends more than 6,600 kilometres with 98 chargers across 49 locations. The EV Network is part of the State Government's Electric Vehicle Action Plan.

Energy Minister Bill Johnston said, "There will be no more than 200 kilometres between each charger, reducing range anxiety and allowing electric vehicle owners to explore our amazing State. To view the Electric Vehicle Action Plan, visit www.wa.gov.au

Construction started in December 2022 on the world's longest electric vehicle highway, with the town of Kalbarri being the first location to receive a charger on the WA EV Network. Northampton and Geraldton were next to follow.

The sites are expected to be operational early 2023 with works on the remaining

Were you one of the many thousands who only became aware close to the deadline that ‘you’ were required to get a Director ID number by November 30th 2022?

Under the Corporations Act 2001, individuals who failed to apply for a Director ID when directed by the Registrar face a maximum criminal penalty of $13,200, with civil penalties extending all the way to $1.1 million.

Some 700,000 company directors within Australia were yet to secure a Director ID number as of November 30, the ABRS declared it would not enforce compliance measures against directors who applied before December 14, 2022.

Given the ABRS’ promise of a “reasonable” approach to compliance, and the high likelihood that thousands of directors will miss the deadline, Oliver Jankowsky, partner and head of international practice at Hall and Wilcox, says it is unlikely regulators would immediately penalise business leaders.

“I think there will be a progressive increase of pressure,” Jankowsky told SmartCompany.

Australian regulators may be more inclined to pursue criminal penalties over missing Director IDs when company directors are also accused of more significant breaches like insolvent trading, Jankowsky added.

If a director is “being pursued by the regulator for the breach of the director’s duties, and then it’s discovered they also didn’t have a [Director ID number], they’ll also then be prosecuted for that,” he said.

However, some company directors have criticised the ATO and ABRS for not informing business leaders of their obligations by mail in the first place, a decision they say left them in the dark about their Director ID obligations until the last minute.

The ATO has defended its decision not to post Director ID alerts.

“A bulk mail out would have been a very costly and inefficient mechanism to use in the first instance,” an ATO representative said.