Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. I refer the minister to his answer yesterday:

… if there are any instances of installers who are in fact not observing the guidelines, then we want to know about it, my office wants to know about it and the department also wants to know about it. There is a 1800 number that is available …

Is the minister aware that AllSafe Energy Efficient Products, a reputable installer, has phoned the government’s 1800 number to report 14 different examples of fraudulent and misleading practices by unscrupulous operators and has been told:

The government is at the moment aware of the problems and is training auditors to solve the problem.

There has been no further response to his 14 areas of complaint from the department or the minister’s office. Minister, when will government staff be trained to deal with local complaints and where do my constituents go to lodge a complaint on the hotline in the meantime?

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

I thank the member for his question. I am not aware of the context of the answer that was given to someone over the phone. What I am aware of are the measures that the government has put in place to deal with the question of the installers properly observing the guidelines when they actually put ceiling insulation in the roofs under this very successful program.

I do know that, in response to the matters that the member has raised, my office has contacted Mr Neville to inform him on the question of the progress of the complaint against Mr Johnson which he raised yesterday, that the department will be conducting an immediate audit of all 33 claims carried out by that company and that the department’s legal team yesterday initiated a process requiring Mr Johnson to show cause as to why he should not be struck off the register of installers. I can say, through you, Mr Speaker, to the member that any new complaints should also be directed to my office for immediate consideration, and we will consider them.

Can I just make an additional observation here, and it is simply this: the department thus far has received a very small number of complaints under this program, covering less than 0.2 per cent of all installations. They are investigated by an audit and compliance team, and anyone with concerns should contact their relevant fair trading authority and/or the insulation hotline. The fact is that 0.2 per cent of complaints have come into a program that is unprecedented in its scope and unprecedented in its take-up. The fact is that, since 3 February, over 61,000 households have had solar hot water installed, and over 185,000 households have had ceiling insulation installed as at 17 August.

The job component in this ceiling insulation program is significant. If the opposition had had their way—they opposed this stimulus package—we would not have these jobs at all. On the question of compliance, we will ensure that any issues that are raised by members in respect of compliance will be followed through promptly and diligently.

Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table a letter from AllSafe Energy Efficient Products, a reputable installer, outlining the 14 areas of complaint that he reported to the hotline.

Leave granted.