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

that it is meant to be—to the building industry, builders’ labourers and so on. I want to know whether or not the stimulus package is, effectively, a bailout under another name.

The other matter I would like an answer from the minister on is in relation to energy efficiency. It pertains to a report by RMIT, International comparison of building energy performance standards, published in 2005. That says that the current five-star standard in Australia for energy efficiency is actually 1.8 to 2.5 stars below comparable average international levels of performance. In fact, it says that the Building Code of Australia’s five-star energy efficiency provision is not even close to the lowest energy efficiency standards currently mandated in the United States for similar climatic conditions. In that circumstance, I would like the minister to confirm that the five-star rating that Australia currently has is almost two stars below the lowest performance in the energy efficiency standards for new buildings in the United States and that that has been the case for some time.

Progress reported.