Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I am glad that we have the opportunity to debate this matter of public importance in the House because it gives me the opportunity to place on the record a number of measures that the government have in place in relation to the delivery of the Home Insulation Program and our energy efficiency programs generally, and also to make absolutely clear the way in which, from day one, we have approached issues of safety, training and effective delivery for the Home Insulation Program.

The member for Flinders is a little late. That is really the subtext of the debate we are having here on a Wednesday. He has been running around the place trying to whip up concern about matters where the government has already responded and taken action. He made a call some weeks ago for an Auditor-General inquiry, knowing full well that the Auditor-General has communicated both to him and to me that any aspects of this program will be considered in the ordinary course of business—and that is as it should be. The member for Flinders raises the issue of the demolished house in the Prime Minister’s electorate and draws the longest bow to suggest that in some way the Prime Minister is responsible for what happened in this instance. What he neglected to say is that immediate action was taken on that case, that the installer was deregistered and that a comprehensive fraud investigation is well underway. We have said time and time again that in any instance of this kind—and there are remarkably few under a program which has been incredibly successful—the government will not hesitate to remove any installer of insulation from the register and take legal action, if appropriate, should they fail to comply with the program guidelines.

The shadow minister raises the reports of fires. These are tragic incidences—there is no doubt about that—and our thoughts are with the families of those involved. These cases, and there are only a small number of them, have all been under investigation and some that were mentioned by the member for Flinders are still under investigation at this point. I have asked my department, as I do in all cases, to work very closely with the state safety authorities, who have responsibility particularly for occupational health and safety matters that relate to these activities. I cannot stress strongly enough that installer and householder safety is an absolute priority under the government’s Home Insulation Program. All reports of safety breaches are dealt with under the program’s audit and compliance guidelines. In relation to one of these unfortunate and tragic deaths, I have been advised that hazards and control measures, including for heat stress, relating to hot working environments are covered off in the mandatory occupational health and safety training and relevant materials. Under this program, all installers—everybody installing insulation—must complete this occupational health and safety training as a requirement of the program’s guidelines.

It is a fact that, until such time that the government brought forward the Home Insulation Program, there was no nationally accredited training in place at all and there now is nationally accredited training in place. It is the case that installers must comply with all relevant state and territory laws as well as complying with the guidelines, which have been strengthened by this government. In relation to these matters, particularly training, there are industry skills councils considering issues around training. If there are any other matters that we need to consider—any recommendations that come forward as a matter of urgency—I will not hesitate to further boost training requirements and safety standards if that is required.

This is a very, very successful program. This is a program that has completely exceeded the expectations of all those who made commentary about it in the first instance. Let us remember that it was the opposition, led by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Turnbull, with the shadow Treasurer and the member for Flinders, who specifically opposed in the parliament that the government should bring forward stimulus measures which would deal with the global financial crisis and provide an opportunity to stimulate manufacturing activity and, through the Home Insulation Program, put in place the largest and most comprehensive energy efficiency program that this country has ever seen. That is what we are dealing with today, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I say through you that since February this year ceiling insulation has been installed in over 700,000 households in this country. That is 700,000 households that have had the opportunity to reduce their energy costs, to contain greenhouse gas pollution and to take the benefit of ceiling insulation, which will in the long term provide not only ongoing energy savings but additional amenity. It is improving the infrastructure of people’s houses as well, and that is why it has been so strongly supported by the Australian public. It is a fact that over the last nine months almost one in 10 Australian homes has been made more energy efficient.

When the member for Flinders came in here he referred to chaos. He talked about the chaos of a program which has seen one of the most significant and consistent deployments of energy efficiency that we have ever witnessed, where we have a remarkably small percentage of complaints and where we have in place a series of measures around compliance and auditing to ensure that each and every complaint is followed through and, if there are breaches of guidelines or safety regulations, they are dealt with as a matter of urgency.

This is a program that is on its way to putting ceiling insulation in the homes of one million Australians; this is a program that is delivering right along the manufacturing and distribution chain; this is a program that is employing many Australians; and it is a program that is strongly and fully supported by the industry. I have regular stakeholder meetings with the industry. I value those meetings and I value the advice that they provide for us and the way in which they have strongly supported what the government has brought forward.

The member for Flinders started talking about chaos in here. The fact is we have never seen more chaos, at least not that I am aware of, in any setting of any parliament in this country than we have seen in this House over the last two days on the matter of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the tenure of the Leader of the Opposition. You want to talk about chaos in here? Just turn on Sky television and watch it minute by minute as these headless chooks try and get their act together and figure out what they are going to do about one of the most important pieces of legislation to come through this parliament. Even today, we had a spill on at one o’clock, one hour before question time. Yesterday, question time nearly did not happen when it was meant to, because of the chaos which was being produced by the opposition, who were in complete disarray. The definition of chaos: the opposition parties in this parliament over the last 48 hours.

Success normally has many parents. There are normally many who claim the parentage of success. But, in this case, the opposition are willing on the failure. They are willing on the failure because they hate this program. They opposed it at the beginning. The shadow Treasurer made great mockery around the fact that we wanted to have pink batts put in the ceilings of Australians’ homes which would enable them to reduce their energy bills up to about $200 per year, sometimes more; help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions; make their homes more comfortable—warmer in winter, cooler in summer; employ many Australians along the way; see the manufacturing facilities in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne going 24/7; see the truck drivers going out and doing the work; and see the Insulation Council responding positively on each and every occasion that the government made an announcement in relation to this program. The opposition hate success. They hate the fact that we have done something which some of them wanted to do.

The member opposite, the member for Flinders, knows very well that it was the Leader of the Opposition himself who proposed at one point, we understand, that we should in fact think about putting ceiling insulation in the ceilings of Australian households, and it was the now departed member for Higgins, the former Treasurer, who knocked him over, just like he was knocked over in many other instances with the submissions that he brought forward to the cabinet in the Howard era. So here is the irony upon irony. Here we have a program which has satisfied the requirements that we put in place for providing proper fiscal stimulus to keep the economy going in the face of the global financial crisis, to provide Australians with the opportunity for meaningful and good employment, to make sure that there was plenty of investment down the supply chain and to start on the business of serious investment in energy efficiency—and it is serious investment. Those opposite, the Liberal-National Party coalition, opposed it from day one and they have been attacking it ever since.

The proof is in the pudding. This is the most successful energy efficiency program Australia has ever seen. It will continue to deliver that which we set out to deliver at the time: employment for Australians, local manufacturing jobs, distribution jobs, jobs along the supply chain and reduced energy costs for Australians. Everyone listening knows that energy bills are an important thing that they have to deal with in their lives. Insulation reduces greenhouse gas emissions and makes their homes more comfortable. You do not necessarily have to get the big aircon unit in when you have insulation in your ceiling; you do not necessarily have to have the heater going all through winter when you have insulation in your ceiling; and it is in your ceiling for longer than the lifetime of this program—it is in your ceiling for 10, 20 and 30 years. That is what it does to the housing stock of this country. The fact is that this government has produced one of the most significant additions to housing infrastructure that we have seen in this country.

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