Brisbane played host to Wire & Gas 2026 over the weekend, the first year VASA and The Automotive Technician have joined forces to run the event together, and “Better Together” turned out to be more than just a theme.
The big news out of Friday night was the long awaited refresh of the Australian Automotive Air Conditioning Code of Practice, unveiled by a panel including Kylie Farrelley, Greg Picker, Lesley Yates, Ian Stangroome and Jeff Smit, with a federal regulator, Australia’s newly formed National Environmental Protection Authority (NEPA), in the room for the first time too.
Saturday brought a sobering look at where HFC refrigerants are headed courtesy of Dr Paul Taylor, four packed training sessions covering everything from AdBlue diagnostics to BEV triage and a Gala Awards Dinner to finish, where Sebastian Moore of Natrad Wagga Wagga took out the REDARC Young Technician of the Year.
Day two kept the energy up with a hard look at where the car park is headed. Lesley Yates opened with a reality check on the pace of ADAS uptake, the surge in new vehicle brands and models hitting Australian roads and where the industry’s right to repair push stands right now, before handing over to Jeff Smit for a closer look at the EV and hybrid sales data reshaping what’s coming through workshop doors. A separate technical panel tackled the multi refrigerant future head on, working through the real differences between recovery, recycling and reclamation and why getting that language right matters more as the refrigerant landscape gets more complicated.
We’ll have the full wrap up, panel insights and all, in the next issue of Auto Elec & Air Con Magazine, hitting the streets 19 August. Don’t miss this one, subscribe here and get every issue delivered for $69.50 for 12 months.
