Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too would like to take note of answers given to questions today by Minister Arbib. I would also like to remind the Senate that the Home Insulation Program was part of the Australian government’s response to the global financial crisis. The program was intended to provide fiscal economic stimulus to the Australian economy and was part of a comprehensive and rapid response to a global financial crisis that has left comparable countries in a much worse state than Australia.

The program was part of the economic stimulus package and it has delivered results. More than one million houses in Australia have received insulation as a result of the program. Those householders will enjoy reduced energy costs. As a nation, the program will also deliver a reduction in greenhouse emissions as a result of the reduced amount of energy used. The program was part of the economic stimulus package that saved 200,000 jobs in Australia. We know that the opposition do not like to be reminded of the success of our economic stimulus package, which they voted against. They are not interested in saving jobs.

Other benefits from the program include, for the first time in the insulation industry—which of course existed prior to the Home Insulation Program—a national training module, nationally accredited training guidelines and national safety guidelines for installation of insulation. Prior to the program, this was a largely deregulated or under-regulated industry. In the order of 60,000 houses each year in Australia had insulation installed, and problems arose from those installations as well, including fires and industrial accidents. We know that installations prior to the program were not without incident. Since the Housing Insulation Program, we have put in place some regulations and some controls on the industry. No-one on this side of the house denies that the rapid take-up of the program by the Australian public resulted in problems—of course it was not without incident. Many of the matters that have come to light as a result of the rapid take-up of the program have now been referred for review, audit or investigation by Commonwealth or state authorities, including state workplace safety authorities.

It was very unfortunate that a program that had such great potential benefits for the Australian public attracted such unscrupulous, greedy and fraudulent operators. Perhaps the opposition should direct some of their bile to those people who entered into this scheme simply to feather their own nests, without any regard to the safety of, in particular, the young people that they put to work, ignoring basic workplace safety measures and the health and safety laws of the states in which they worked. Those people are abhorrent, and everybody on this side of the house is determined that this government will bring them to account for what they did. Those people have cruelled the pitch for the many responsible insulation installers, companies and providers in Australia who have built up legitimate businesses over a long period of time. This government is determined to support the legitimate, good-hearted business people and workers in this industry. We will do that in a number of ways, including through a support package for the insulation workers and insulation companies that are going through tough times. The government will stand behind those people and will pursue those fraudulent operators, those greedy individuals, who took advantage of this program and caused such problems.