Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Now that the Prime Minister has accepted personal responsibility for the scandal around the home insulation program, which has been suspended with the immediate loss of at least 6,000 jobs, to clarify the Prime Minister’s earlier answer today I ask: does the Prime Minister guarantee that all these workers will continue to receive their existing wages from their existing employers? If not, how will he ensure that they are not harmed by the scheme’s collapse?

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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and I say what I said earlier in question time today—

Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No worker will be worse off!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bowman is warned!

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

that as Prime Minister I accept full responsibility for government programs—those programs which are judged by the community to be successful and those which are judged not to be successful. Where mistakes are made, our responsibility is to deal with those mistakes rather than to pretend that they do not exist or to push responsibility elsewhere.

The second thing I would say in response to the honourable member’s question is as follows. I outlined before the government’s commitment in relation to each worker. That was part of the insulation worker adjustment package. Let me recap that for his information. The government’s commitment is that each worker will receive one of three things. Each worker will receive support to retain their current job through the transition phase before the new renewable energy bonus program begins. This support will be provided through assistance to business to retain workers through the transition phase in either work or training. Or, secondly, the government will assist displaced insulation workers to find alternative jobs with other employers in other industries. This assistance will be provided through priority employment coordinators, dedicated insulation coordination officers and the resources of the Job Services Australia network. Or, thirdly, where appropriate employment opportunities are not available, the government will ensure that a relevant training place is available to displaced insulation workers.

That is our response to the problems which have arisen with the implementation of this program. I think some in this chamber would find the position of the Leader of the Opposition to be ironic. He is the former minister for industrial relations and one of the, shall I say, strongest advocates of Work Choices in the past and in the future—a system of industrial relations that had something to say about basic conditions, including redundancy payments. Can I say that the Leader of the Opposition should reflect on the consistency of his position on the broader protection of workers’ rights.