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

My question is again to the Prime Minister. As the Prime Minister has informed the House that Minister Garrett informed him of problems with the Home Insulation Program by letter of 14 August, did he warn in that letter of fire, fraud or safety issues, and will the Prime Minister now release that letter? Further, isn’t this why the Prime Minister will not sack Minister Garrett: because the buck stops with the Prime Minister?

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. He refers to the then minister’s letter to me of 14 August—

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He’s still a minister.

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

The then minister responsible for this program. In response to the honourable Leader of the Opposition’s question, I received a letter from the minister, in relation to the Home Insulation Program, proposing increased compliance requirements for the program. On 17 August the relevant cabinet committee considered these compliance matters raised by the minister in his 14 August letter.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yeah, we know that.

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

That is the question the Leader of the Opposition asked. These contained the following elements: (1) physical site inspections prior to giving quotes; (2) increased inspections and scrutiny of trainer qualifications—which goes directly to safety considerations—

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

I raise a point of order on relevance, Mr Speaker. Did that letter warn of safety problems, and will the Prime Minister release the letter?

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

The Prime Minister is responding to the question.

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

In answering the Leader of the Opposition’s question: this correspondence dealt also with, secondly, increased inspections and scrutiny of trainer qualifications; thirdly, increased compliance; and, fourthly, processes for suspending and deregistering non-compliant installers. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition that the relevance of training standards and the relevance of the inspections regime go directly to the question of overall safety considerations associated with the program. Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition, both in relation to these matters and to the cabinet documents that I referred to before, that these obviously are associated with the cabinet process and will be appropriately protected.