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

This question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to confirmation from his department late on Friday that it had provided four briefings to him between August last year and March this year concerning the Home Insulation Program. Why did the Prime Minister fail to disclose these personal briefings in his answers to parliament last week?

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

I say to the Leader of the Opposition that I as Prime Minister accept full responsibility for problems which have arisen in the implementation of the Home Insulation Program. The Leader of the Opposition will be aware of what I referred to in the House last week about the briefings to the cabinet by the Coordinator-General, the correspondence between me and the Minister for Health and Ageing, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet throughout that period was also engaged with other departments in the development and refinement of the Home Insulation Program. I as Prime Minister accept full responsibility for problems which have arisen. The reason Minister Combet has been appointed as the Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is to deal with problems in the system and we intend to get on with it.