8 February 2026

Chris Minns has made a desperate attempt to distract from a state visit from accused war criminal Isaac Herzog with a high-visibility campaign to crush people’s e-bikes.

Wollongong Greens councillor and e-mobility advocate Jess Whittaker said the social media blitz on Sunday, the day before the Israeli president touches down, was a “heavy-handed flex from an unpopular government”.

The campaign promoted by state Labor MPs boasted about the government seizing and “crushing” non-compliant ebikes with heavy machinery, rather than investing in meaningful education and road safety campaigning. 

Quotes attributed to Cr Jess Whittaker:

“Minns’ Labor government has failed to engage with their federal counterparts to better regulate import standards, while underinvesting in active transport infrastructure to separate bikes from cars and pedestrians,” Jess said.

“They also failed to deliver meaningful education and road safety campaigning to go alongside the uptake of e-mobility technology, and now this heavy-handed flex from an unpopular government, a day before hosting an accused war criminal, is the result.

“There are safety and behaviour issues with modified e-bikes. Like any new technology, the transition takes leadership and stewardship, something Labor seems incapable of. Their response to the issue, to crush perfectly good transport devices and send them to the scrap heap, is a disgrace.

“Riders of the non-compliant e-bikes should instead be handed an infringement, and if seizure is necessary, these bikes could be modified back to being compliant and still provide transportation to people that is more sustainable and safer than a motor vehicle. It’s also concerning young people doing the right thing will feel harassed and intimidated by police with new powers designed to target them.”

“The appearance on our roads of enormous American-style SUVs has occurred in parallel to that of e-bikes, yet there is total silence and a lack of action to address the risk to pedestrian safety these vehicles pose, in the same way the Minns government has decided to target mostly young people riding e-bikes. Minns would prefer parents to be stuck in traffic driving their kids all over town, than to take the steps needed to make e-bikes integrate into our transport network.”