Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. First of all, could I turn to the correspondence that he refers to: Minister Garrett’s letters to me dated 27 August, 28 October and 30 October. These have been provided to the Senate in their entirety, although not requested by the Senate orders, complete with my letters to Mr Garrett dated 4 September, 29 October and 2 November. These have been provided voluntarily to the Senate. Furthermore, as I outlined in the House on 11 March, there are a number of actions and changes to the program that the responsible minister proposed during 2009 to address a range of safety issues. These have all been reviewed by Dr Hawke in the context of his review.

The member for Flinders asks about cabinet deliberations. I refer him to the updates which were provided to the cabinet through the Nation Building and Jobs Plan implementation reports. I have reported on those earlier in this parliament. Furthermore, could I say to the honourable member for Flinders that, from 1 July 2009, subsequent to the introduction of the program, there were a number of changes to it. The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts issued 26 installer notices under their Home Insulation Program that went to every registered installer. These notices often dealt with safety issues, including reminders around electrical safety and any updates to the program guidelines. Furthermore, can I say to the member for Flinders that, from 1 July 2009—

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