Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Of course I regret and am sorry for any harm caused or inconvenience or anxiety that Australian families have felt arising from the Home Insulation Program—of course I do. As is well known in this parliament and well known in the community, there were some tragic deaths involving young people that are the province of proper inquiries—coronial inquiries, occupational health and safety inquiries and the like. When any person dies at work, obviously that is a tragedy. We have proper processes to investigate such tragedies and they are in train now.

I say to the member that the government acknowledged, and I acknowledge on the government’s behalf, that this program did become a mess and the government had to act. We did act and we continue to act through the relevant minister to deal with the consequences of this program, including the need for inspections. But what I would also say to the member who has asked the question is that he is well aware that the insulation program was part of the urgent delivery of economic stimulus as we did what had to be done in response to the global financial crisis. These were difficult circumstances: the biggest global economic downturn since the Great Depression. We faced a prospect where hundreds of thousands of additional Australians could have been out of work. I understand from the voting record of the member and the voting record of the Leader of the Opposition that they continue to be and were at the time less concerned than us about keeping Australians in work. But we are driven by a passion of ensuring that we keep Australians in work.

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