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

I will say that in terms of providing the public with information concerning the Home Insulation Program, it has always been the case that there was a website available for people to access. That website has had the guidelines and requirements under the scheme, and there was also posted clear information to installers under that program about what steps should be taken in relation to any risks or compliance breaches that may take place.

The fact is that we take safety seriously in the delivery of ceiling insulation. I have to say that there are a substantial number of credible, well-qualified and honourable ceiling installers who have done their job under this program according to the guidelines. They have placed insulation in people’s ceilings which does not pose any additional risks for householders. For the opposition to claim in the parliament that up to a million homes or otherwise are at risk is not an appropriate or responsible way to ask questions of me on this matter.

I am very happy to take the questions that the opposition puts to me, but I simply point out to those opposite that the information that was tendered on Friday made clear that some 75 or 76 per cent of households that had been insulated under this program had not shown compliance or risk issues associated with them and, of those that remained, it was some eight per cent where significant risk issues were attached and they would be followed up as a matter of urgency—as they always have been under this program.

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