Queensland’s state LNP government has revealed plans to buy up to 630 new buses to replace the state’s ageing fleet of vehicles, promising “modern” and “fully accessible buses” but virtually guaranteeing that none of the buses will be electric.
State minister for transport and main roads Brent Mickelberg announced the “Better Bus Build” at an event at Transdev’s Capalaba depot this week.
Designed to replace the state’s ageing fleet of diesel buses as well as boost reliability, improve accessibility, and “ensure the network keeps pace with a fast-growing state,” the government said its aim is to “maintain service continuity” across the state while also building a pipeline of work for industry.
“Queensland is growing and we’re working to deliver the road and transport upgrades to get Queenslanders home sooner and safer,” said Mickelberg.
But as is typical of most announcements out of Queensland’s Crisafulli government, the future-focused messaging was undermined by attacks on the previous Labor government and a continued turning away from the clean energy transition from a government that has already dumped Labor’s renewable energy targets and its emission goals.
“Labor’s plan to replace Queensland’s bus fleet was a fanciful pipedream, with no grounding in reality,” Mickelberg continued.
“Their half-baked plan involved buying electric buses, but no plans, or money, for the recharging facilities or additional depots to support the fleet expansion – in other words, all they were doing was buying big, expensive paperweights to block local streets.”
Even though the Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) remains intent on trashing the former Labor government in every press release and announcement it makes – despite it being out of power for over 18 months – Mickelberg’s comments essentially confirm that the 630 new buses will not be electric.
At the time of writing, no specific details have been published regarding the Better Bus Build procurement. In fact, tthe website for the government’s own department of transport and main roads still promises (as of writing) “New buses added to the South East Queensland fleet will be zero emission from 2025.”
It’s a massive step back for a state which only a few years ago was boasting of having built Australia’s first 100 per cent electric and renewable powered bus depot, alongside the roll out of 30 new electric buses.
In the last year in office, the Labor government also announced plans to deliver over 400 zero emission buses through direct government procurement – buses which would have replaced ageing diesel buses in operation on the Translink network.
Queensland’s insistence on abandoning clean energy technologies also stands in stark contrast to what is playing out across the rest of Australia – particularly as it pertains to public transport.
South of the border, New South Wales is rapidly ramping up its fleet of electric buses and electric bus depots. In June, the NSW state Labor government announced that it would spend $6.5 billion over ten years to buy at least 1,700 new electric buses and build 17 charging depots.
This builds on significant progress already completed in recent years. While it is hard to tell exactly how many electric buses are in operation across NSW at the moment, as of August 2025 there were more than 220 already in operation, with another 921 on the way. The state’s bus depots are already undergoing transformations, and new purpose-built electric depots are popping up around the state.
Victoria is similarly building out its own fleet of electric busses and electric bus depots. As part of the state government’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, all new public transport buses ordered from 1 July 2025 will be zero emission. And the state already boasts several bus depots kitted out with charging infrastructure.
South Australia recently unveiled its first electric bus charging hub, which features 60 charging stations to support Adelaide Metro’s growing fleet of 55 electric buses.
Across the Nullarbor, Western Australia is quickly ramping up its own electric bus ambitions, including not only replacing its diesel bus fleet with electric options and upgrading bus depots with charging infrastructure, but also building a major electric bus manufacturing industry.
The last diesel bus to ever be manufactured in Western Australia rolled off the Volgren bus production line in May of 2025, only two months before the first electric buses to begin operating beyond the Western Australian capital of Perth’s CBD began work.
This followed an initial rollout of 18 electric buses that have been running on the Perth CBD’s CAT bus routes. Volgren’s Malaga manufacturing facility also recently debuted Australia’s first locally made electric “bendy” or articulated bus.
