Matthew Hughes MLA JP | Member for Kalamunda

The electric vehicle revolution will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve urban air-quality and help WA reach its carbon reduction targets. The McGowan Labor Government wants the Western Australian community to embrace this transition and is using grant funding as an incentive and an important step to drive the uptake of electric vehicles across our State.

So, on Thursday 16 February the Energy Minister Bill Johnston launched the new Charge Up Workplace Grant Program. This is a $15 million grant funding commitment from the McGowan WA Labor Government as part of its strategy to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout the State and forms part of a $60 million allocation to increase electric vehicle uptake and in the process reduce carbon emissions.

Up to $3.75 million has been made available in the first round of the Charge Up Grants which target not for-profit organisations, small and medium businesses, and local government authorities. The grants will meet about half the costs of buying and installing charging stations and associated software. They will promote off-peak EV charging, support the conversion of organisation fleets to EVs and, over time, stimulate a second-hand EV market.

Round One grants will fund a 50 per cent of the cost of up to four Level Two EV chargers (7 to 22kW AC) per site, for up to five sites; a 50 per cent of EV charger installation costs, with a cap of $5,000 per site in metropolitan areas and $10,000 per site in regional and remote areas; and 75 per cent of the cost of a twoyear smart charging software subscription.

A maximum grant value of $50,000 per approved applicant will apply in metropolitan areas, with a maximum value of $75,000 in regional and remote areas in recognition of the higher installation costs.

The Charge Up Workplace Grant Program will make it easier and more cost-effective for small to medium enterprises, not-for-profit organisations, and local government authorities to install EV charging equipment. The program will fund EV chargers in the workplace and at destinations where people typically spend time during the day, for example carparks, hospitality businesses, tourist attractions, parks and beaches. Electric vehicle owners will be able to reduce their carbon emissions by charging up during the day, as this is when the electricity grid is powered by the greatest share of clean solar energy.

Investment in EV infrastructure complements the Government's funding towards public transport infrastructure, and overall efforts to combat climate change.

Through initiatives such as creating the world's longest electric vehicle highway - the WA EV Network - and now the Charge Up Workplace Grant Program, the McGowan Government is helping to establish that infrastructure.

In the Electorate of Kalamunda, I urge our local businesses, the Shire of Mundaring and the City of Kalamunda councils, and those in the not-for-profit sector to consider how a Charge Up Workplace Grant can be used to provide EV charging infrastructure that benefits their business, their customers and clients, and their visitors.

Round One grant applications opened on 16 February 2023 and close on 12 May 2023. For full details of the Charge Up Workplace Grant Program and how to apply for a Charge Up Grant can be found at: www.wa.gov.au/chargeup.

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sadness for those who have been injured and lost family and friends, homes and businesses. The scale of disasters such as these can be overwhelming; it can be hard to fathom the magnitude of loss people are experiencing

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GOT QUESTIONS?

MAKING SENSE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

I find the Bible dry and not relevant. How can people be interested in reading it?

George Muller estimated that he had read the Bible over a hundred times by the time he reached age sixty. Then in the last twenty-two years of his life, he read it another one hundred times, reading it five times a year. Yet towards the end of his life he said, "I feel like I have just begun to scratch the surface of what God has to say to us." More recently Chuck Missler was quoted as saying “The Scripture is inexhaustible— you can never get to the bottom of its depth. And that’s what you would expect from the Word of God.”

God says His Word is living and active and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Jesus is quoted as saying that He opened the minds of people so that they could understand

For example, Psalm 5 begins with “Listen to my words Lord, consider my lament Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.” And the heartfelt cry of the David in Psalm 6: 2-3 “Have mercy on me Lord, for I am faint; heal me Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish How long Lord, life’s circumstances cause us pain and grief, we can turn to God just as the writers of the Psalms did. Psalm 10: 17 assures us that God is happy for us to share our pain with him. “You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.” don’t need to try and work through tragedy alone. God is always with us. We can put our hope in him.

Denise Rhodes

What is clear from these Psalms is t the writers know that God is there he will understand what they are feel He “can take it”, no matter what t express. He hears their pain anguish and listens to what they the scriptures. When we read the Bible we need to understand that is a spiritual book as well as a physical one. God is the one who will open our minds of understanding and unless He is present when we read it, it will just be ink on a page like all other books.

When we open the Bible with earnest intent to seek God and are willing to have our own hearts, thoughts and intentions revealed to us, God brings the Word alive and it becomes intimate, personal and majestically relevant. It is part of God's beauty and tenderness that He reveals to us the thoughts and intents of His own heart as well as showing us ours. When we read it together with the Spirit of God the Bible becomes a living and active instruction manual that pertains to life.

May we give God permission to teach us when we read it. May we trust that He wants us to show us how it becomes living and active. May we never choose to read it alone without God, thinking that we have anything of our own ability to interpret its intentions. I have experienced reading the Bible both ways, on my own and with God. On my own it was like dead wood - just words on a page that held some interest but not different to any other book. Then once I came to know and love God, the Word became alive for me, living and active in my life, discerning the thoughts and intents of my heart, teaching me about God and His ways. Immediately it became a perfect union of the physical and spiritual working together as one and it is beautifully amazing and relevant to my life every day and it really is more than incredibly interesting.

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