Scamps' e-bike safety bill lapsed without a vote
Dr Sophie Scamps wanted e-bikes treated as road vehicles under national law. They would need safety rules and limits that riders cannot tamper with. The bill was dropped from Parliament's to-do list on 31 March 2026.
Official name: Road Vehicle Standards Amendment (Safer E-Bikes) Bill 2025
- E-bikes would have counted as road vehicles under the national Road Vehicle Standards Act.
- The minister would have had 6 months to set national safety rules for normal e-bikes and for stronger ones.
- The e-bike rules had to stop people tampering with speed and motor power limits.
- E-bikes for people with disability or for off-road riding could be let off.
- It was never voted on and was dropped on 31 March 2026.
Who it affects
- People who import or sell e-bikes: E-bikes would have had to meet a national safety standard before they could be brought in and sold.
- E-bike riders: Bikes sold would need working pedals, seats that adjust, and limits that are hard to tamper with.
- People with disability who use adapted e-bikes: Their bikes could be let off the new rules.
- Off-road riders: Bikes that will not be ridden on public roads could be let off.
E-bikes outgrew the rules
E-bikes have become very popular. Many types are now on sale. The notes that explain the bill say the rules have not kept up.
Dr Sophie Scamps is the MP for Mackellar, an area of Sydney that elects one MP. She brought this bill to the House of Representatives, the larger house of Parliament, on 1 September 2025.
It was a private bill. That means it did not come from the government.
The notes say unsafe e-bikes are being brought into Australia that do not meet the rules. The bill aims to make sure e-bikes sold here are safe. They should be hard to tamper with and should not go too fast.
One national law sets safety rules for cars, trucks and motorbikes. It is the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018. A 2021 decision under that law says normal e-bikes are not road vehicles. So they fall outside it.
E-bikes become road vehicles
The law already has a name for a normal e-bike. It calls it an electrically power-assisted cycle. This article calls it a normal e-bike.
A normal e-bike is a pedal bike with a motor of up to 250 watts. The motor gives less help as the bike goes faster than 6 km/h.
The motor cuts out at 25 km/h. It also cuts out if the rider stops pedalling above 6 km/h.
The bill would have made normal e-bikes road vehicles under the Act. This would undo the 2021 decision that left them out.
The minister would then have to set a national safety standard for them within 6 months. It had to cover working pedals and seats that adjust for height.
It also had to stop tampering. Only the maker could change certain settings. These are the top speed with motor help, the motor power, and the top gear on bikes with the motor in the middle. The speed of help when starting off was on the list too.
The standard also had to cover everything in a European safety standard for e-bikes. That standard sets how e-bikes are designed, built and tested.
New class for powerful e-bikes
The bill made a new type of vehicle called a powerful e-bike. This is any vehicle with 2 or 3 wheels powered fully or partly by an electric motor. It must not be a normal e-bike.
Mopeds, motorbikes, motorbikes with sidecars and motor trikes were left out. They already have their own groups in the law.
Powerful e-bikes would also be road vehicles. The minister would have 6 months to set a national safety standard for them too.
Say a shop sells an electric bike that can reach 45 km/h on the motor alone. Under this bill it would count as a powerful e-bike. It would need to meet that standard.
Who is exempt
Part 2 of the Act holds the main rules for road vehicles. A vehicle must be on an approved list before sale. There are also rules for bringing in and changing vehicles.
Part 2 would not apply to normal e-bikes for the first 6 months, while the standard was being written. After that, a normal e-bike that met the new standard would not need to go through Part 2.
The head of the department that runs the Act could also let some normal e-bikes off the rules. These are bikes built or changed for a person with disability. They also include bikes that will not be ridden on a public road.
A powerful e-bike built for a person with disability could also be ruled not to be a road vehicle.
A small tidy-up
The bill also removed an old meaning of the words "power-assisted pedal cycle" from the rules on vehicle types. The notes call it out of date.
Dropped after time ran out
The bill was put to the House on 1 September 2025. That same day, a vote on its main idea was proposed. The vote never happened, and the bill was never debated further.
On 31 March 2026 it was dropped from Parliament's to-do list under the House rules. That happens when a private bill sits for a long time and nobody deals with it.
If it had passed, it would have started the day after it became law. It will not become law in this form.
Its journey through Parliament
| 01 Sep 2025 | House of Representatives: Introduced and read a first time |
| 01 Sep 2025 | House of Representatives: Second reading moved |
| 31 Mar 2026 | House of Representatives: Removed from the Notice Paper in accordance with (SO 42) |