Wheelies on Boxing Day. Did Barnaby Joyce ruin Christmas for e-bike riders?

With the e-bike market booming in Australia, there will be record numbers under the Christmas tree this year. So how safe are these? Andrew Gardiner he asks.

If our epidemic e-bike accidents If it infuriates you, you’ll probably want to blame someone. Those who want to choose a ‘bad guy’ for this tragedy need look no further than Barnaby Joyce as Minister of Transport. took off the rug Under current e-bike safety protocols in 2021.

That’s right, readers: the safety guardrails we adopted from Europe in 2011 to regulate the import of e-bikes were quietly and without much public debate removed from the rules under the Road Vehicle Standards Act under Joyce and her deputy minister Kevin Hogan.

What we saw most by way of description was this: “simplify the definition The expansion of e-bikes, which are considered “not road vehicles” under the law, is a move that is the exact opposite of what residents of coastal suburbs see every day. Cronulla with coolangatta.

MWM it does not suggest any corrupt or malicious intent on their part. Instead, it appears that Joyce, Hogan, and the bureaucrats under them had no idea what a quiet change of words would bring.

But what did they expect? E-bikes have flooded the country, with importers no longer having to worry about pesky safety standards, allowing retailers to sell cheaper, inferior versions of what will soon become Christmas gifts.

Increased sales (and losses)

Only 9,000 in 2017E-bike imports increased rapidly within the scope of axial import protocols with 261,000 Last year, many of the latter came with substandard lithium-ion batteries and easy-to-hack speed-limiting software. signal well publicized Many deaths and injuries due to battery burnsor children traveling together busy roads. sometimes at speeds up to 50km/h or more.

The number of casualties was shocking: 40 drivers They have died across the country in the last five years. Meanwhile, more than 500 In the 24 months to last December, e-bike riders reported to NSW emergency services and the number of hospitalizations for e-bike injuries in Victoria has skyrocketed 627 percent ($) Since 2019.

A study conducted in 2025 showed that e-bike riders twice as likely They will suffer traumatic brain injury just like regular cyclists. Meanwhile in NSW (the only state that publishes such data) 323 fire This number, caused by lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes last year, is almost double the figure in 2022.

At a time when the media showed intense interest in this massacre, the state parliaments And authorities It launched a series of investigations into e-bikes and other rideable vehicles. Federal Transport Minister Catherine King announced that she will bring back the European e-bike standards known as EN-15194 by the end of the year.

The damage has already been done

King’s overdue move will do nothing to eliminate the thousands of substandard e-bikes hitting our streets as European rules are jettisoned. This onerous task was left to state police and officials, who again had to navigate a maze of road rules and specifications to make sure everything was compliant with those rules at the local level, just as they did after EN-15194 was first adopted in 2011.

It’s hard to estimate how many dodgy e-bikes are on the market, as Joyce and Hogan’s laissez-faire approach means importers don’t even need to do this. Notify the authorities They were bringing them. Suffice it to say that the estimate is high and growing.

Safety fears are further exacerbated by overpowered bikes, lack of proper training for riders, failure to wear helmets and the large number of unregistered and illegal e-bikes with backyard modifications. And even the situation with e-scooters has gotten even more out of control.

“There are fewer regulations for e-scooters than e-bikes and they are prone to accidents,” Cycling Queensland’s Andrew Demack said. MWM.

We contacted Joyce and Hogan to address the situation but have not heard back.

Standard mismatch

According to the added European standards, imported e-bikes must have motors with a power limit of 250 watts; these engines cut off at 15 mph and only contribute while riders are pedaling. After Joyce and Hogan removed these rules, the NSW government increased the maximum permitted continuous power rating for eBikes from 250. up to 500 watts in 2023, against the advice of its own experts.

While other states maintained 250-watt limits on motors, the genie was out of the bottle when it came to uniform laws. NSW, last state to adopt European standards, appears to be ‘more interested in regulation’ battery burnsQueensland appears to have the opposite approach, saying “rather than speed or power”, with Bicycle Industry Australia Chief Executive Peter Burke saying: in question.

“We need regulatory alignment across the country,” he added. This may be easier said than done.

Speed ​​adjustments

There is also the issue of drivers making adjustments to e-bikes so they can go faster than the mandatory 25 km/h, or completely ignoring the need to pedal to comply with the rules. “Most of the models kids ride have a throttle, which really makes them motorcycles,” says MWM e-bike owner Josh Barnett.

Josh added that many riders “barely follow the rules” and that “you can easily change the speed limit of an e-bike if you change the software.” Other ways to get around speed limits include changing display settings, using a custom settings lock, and replacing the controller.

In a bid to address this issue, and the wider issue of e-bike regulations being relaxed by executive order, ‘Teal’ independent Sophie Scamps has gone a step further, with King planning to revamp EN-15194. The Mackellar MP recently tabled his own private member’s bill to turn e-bike regulations into legislation and anti-tampering With bike speed limits.

“E-bikes… are an important part of the transition to cleaner, more active transportation, but technology has taken the lead “I am very concerned that if we do not act urgently to implement clear national safety standards, we will see more tragedies related to these powerful e-bikes,” Scamps said.

Isn’t it a federal issue?

You would think such a declaration of ‘motherhood’ would establish unity of purpose in our political class, but Labor’s leading candidate Anika Wells objected. “I’m so excited to see these ‘Oranges’ peddling up and down the hill, but today I’m going to focus on federal laws,” he said, mocking Scamps and dismissing e-bikes as merely a government issue, which it is not.

Liberal Senator Jane Hume echoed Wells’ sentiments. “If (Canberra) spends its time talking about cycling, we we lost our way“.

It seems only disasters Port Arthur (1996) The odds bring the bipartisan support — at all levels of government — needed to solve something as thorny as the inundation of shoddy e-bikes.

And that’s a tricky situation: trying to stop young Leo from messing with his own business. Lil Rippa Going faster than his friend across the road or telling him not to use lithium-ion steering in places adults deem ‘dangerous’ seems like a futile task. Banning children from social media.

Barnaby Joyce’s ministerial days appear to be over. “And that’s a good thing,” a source joked. “E-bike can’t fill our rules any more than crossbench”

Barnaby, Brussels and Out-of-Control E-Bikes | West Report

An Adelaide-based Media Studies graduate with an MA in Social Policy, I was an editor covering current affairs, local government and sport for a variety of publications before deciding to change careers in 2002.