Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some remarks on the energy efficiency part of the package. I welcome the retrofit of more than two million homes with ceiling insulation and solar hot water. However, if the government had sought some advice in a broader context, we might have gone a lot further in maximising the jobs outcome and the manufacturing outcome. I will start by saying that the remarks in the chamber today about curtains are pertinent, because we need around the country a group of people trained as energy auditors. People do not know the best thing to do in their home because in many cases they have not really thought about it. Energy prices are going to go up by virtue of the carbon price, and people are going to be sitting around in their homes saying, ‘I’m just not sure what the best thing to do in my house is.’ The first thing we need to do is have TAFE colleges around the country offer courses for people to train as energy auditors. It is not something that you need a string of degrees to do. You can be taught how to do an energy audit of a home.

Anyone would tell you that the most effective thing to do is install ceiling insulation and solar hot water. But with these retrofits we should also make sure that building codes are changed so that no new homes or renovations can be constructed without full insulation—that is, in ceilings and walls—and solar hot water. We should ensure that people cannot buy new electric units. We should not only retrofit but also prevent the problem in the future. The first thing would be to get people trained so that people can ring up and get an auditor to come to their home and say, ‘This is what I recommend to you with a 10-year payback.’ They could start with that. They could say, ‘Ceiling insulation and solar hot water.’ According to Professor Alan Pears, who gave evidence to the committee, you would look next at draught proofing the house. You would get advice on that. The next thing he said you would do is shade the glazing—in other words, have shade over windows. The best thing you can do is double glaze, but that is a very expensive option. You can have awnings and in some cases you can use vegetation—although in the context of the fires that is an arguable point.

If you have large window areas in your house, curtains will help. Another way of assisting in putting people to work is in constructing pelmets. Pelmets are incredibly important and make a big difference. If you have curtains without pelmets then you are missing a big opportunity for energy savings and insulation. But no builder will build you half a dozen pelmets for your house, because it is a small job. Most of our tradespeople are already fully employed and, because of this stimulus package, building firms will go for the much bigger projects. This is where some of the community organisations could come in. I know in Tasmania some community organisations looked at teaching people how to build very simple pelmets. Then a person could ring up and say, ‘I want someone to come in, measure up and build pelmets for my house.’ That is where some community groups—if they got some funding and some training money—could maximise people’s opportunities.

Once you had glazing shading, the next thing would be wall insulation. A lot of people do not appreciate the value of wall insulation. Then you could go to under-floor insulation. There is no end to the number of things you can do. Also, you can change to energy-efficient appliances. People say, ‘Look what I’ve done: I’ve just replaced my old fridge with a new, energy-efficient fridge.’ But, if they then put the old gas-guzzler in the garage and keep it running for their drinks, pet food or whatever, they are actually making the problem worse because they are using not only that volume of energy but additional energy for their new and more efficient fridge. Now that the government has introduced a program for energy efficiency in houses, it is a good opportunity to match that with a community education program and some training money to maximise the benefit. We are going to have people unemployed. They could have the opportunity to train as energy auditors. That would build them a future. You would not be able to get an energy audit now. If I sat down in Tasmania today and tried to ring up someone to come and do an energy audit of my house this week, I would be hard pressed to get someone to come in that time frame.

Last year I got a solar hot water system, and it sat in my driveway for three months while I waited for a plumber to come and put it on the roof. Tradespeople in Tasmania are pretty hard to get. That was my point in the Senate inquiry when I asked Treasury about the capacity to have solar hot water systems installed. Indeed, across the whole infrastructure spend, where are we going to get the tradespeople to build the new buildings in every primary school in the country and to build the community housing, when we already have a shortage of people in the trades? That is why I asked whether we have the capacity to upgrade across the country the training places in the trades to support this infrastructure rollout.

The government should be thinking about what should be funded in the coming budget. The issue here, as we have said, is being timely and immediate. Obviously this training cannot be immediate, but if we are thinking about capacity building Treasury said there was aggregate capacity across the country to deliver the infrastructure spend. As I pointed out to Dr Henry, and he concurred, of course there is not going to be even capacity everywhere in the country but the infrastructure spend is going to be even because it is for every primary school across the country and every school is going to have maintenance. Presumably there will be a pro rata amount of public housing around the country as well. So in areas of the country where there is not much capacity, I am interested to know how the government intends to address the fact that you may not be able to get this infrastructure up as quickly as you might like. I put that to the government and also link the opportunity now provided with broadening the complementary employment opportunities and upskilling and training that might go with it on the whole energy efficiency front. I ask the minister to explain—and this concerns me, since we have said that time is the issue—the $2.7 billion insulation program. According to the Age today:

The Rudd Government’s first budget in May also included a scheme to install insulation in rental properties—

that was last May—

and guidelines for the scheme promised in 2007 were still being finalised when the expanded insulation scheme was announced last week.

No insulation has been delivered into those rental properties from the last May budget and here we are coming into the next budget. If the guidelines still have not been developed for what was promised last May, I would like to know how we are going to get this insulation spend and delivery out there fast. Is there going to be a rebate scheme for the first few months while you go into partnership arrangements with insulation companies who will then deliver for people? When would you expect the insulation scheme to begin? I would like some details from the government about that.

In relation to the government’s agreement with the states, I also note that the government has confirmed that just 500 of the nation’s more than 9,000 schools have made claims for funds under Labor’s Solar Schools program. The minister’s office would not say how many claims had been approved but a department spokesperson said the figure amounted to about a million. According to this article—and I would like to have some confirmation:

… an obstacle has been state governments intervening to take control of tendering processes. It is understood some governments are insisting they oversee the bulk-purchase of solar equipment.

If that is the case, can the minister explain to me how the tendering processes are intended to work. Will state governments handle the tender for the schools, for the social housing in their states, for the maintenance programs in their states and also for the building trade training centres? Also, is insulation and solar hot water going to be handled straight from the federal department? Will the states have any role in that? If we go back to saying that the states are going to have a hand in managing the tenders for the minor works and the major works in schools and the social housing, what guarantee could we possibly have that the states have the competence and the capacity to deal with this level of infrastructure spend in those tendering processes in the time frame?