Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for his question. Firstly, it is important to recognise what is being done to remediate the issues that have been experienced with the Home Insulation Program. There are significant safety inspection programs underway in two areas of activity. One is in relation to the former foil insulation that was installed in many homes in Queensland and northern New South Wales. That program is well advanced and is proceeding well and remediating the safety issues that have been experienced along the way. The other program to which the shadow minister refers is the Home Insulation Safety Program, which is inspecting at least 150,000 homes that had non-foil insulation installed within them. I think the latest numbers are in excess of 56,000 homes that have had inspections performed on them. They are being done through contracts entered into by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

An extensive amount of information has been provided by the government in relation to all the activities, including the investigations of noncompliance of various companies and the programs of inspection themselves. A regular update is provided on the website of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Yesterday I and the Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency issued a comprehensive statement in relation to the state of play with the remediation of the problems experienced with the Home Insulation Program. The fundamental issue at the core of the shadow minister’s question concerns the fact that the inspection program in relation to non-foil forms of insulation that has been installed is targeted. It is targeted according to a risk assessment. It is not, therefore, representative of a random sample of houses across the cohort, if you like, of homes that had non-foil insulation installed. It is targeted. It is not a random simple.

The inspection program is only partway completed. We are receiving assistance or have commissioned assistance from the CSIRO in the risk assessment that is being developed to identify the homes to inspect. For example, a poor compliance record is obviously one of the criteria used in targeting organisations for inspections. To release that information would not be representative of experience across the program. What the government proposes to do—

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