Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

The waste, waste, waste is something shocking, as Senator Fisher has indicated. And it goes from bad to worse, because if you add up all the costs we are talking about up to $1 billion in waste as a result of the government’s bungling and mismanagement of the Home Insulation Program. The government come in here and cannot say exactly how long it will take until the audit is complete, and they are only talking about the 15 per cent. They cannot say how much it will cost. Why won’t they? They have had weeks and weeks to work this out. It does not take that long. The government’s mismanagement and maladministration of this program is a disgrace, and they should hang their heads in shame. Something I have learnt in just the past 24 hours is that numerous people have been injured. Four Australians, tragically, have been killed as a result of their link to the Home Insulation Program, but how many Australians have been injured? I do not know the answer to that, and I would like to get to the bottom of it. We have a Senate committee hearing next week, and we will get to the bottom of it.