Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The 31 August 2010 date coincided with the date on which data was collated by the Department to respond to Senator Birmingham's original question.

(2) One invoice is still to be paid for loans that were approved prior to the 22 March 2010 closure date. The Department is seeking clarification from the relevant financial institution about a number of items included in this invoice. Once the items claimed for payment have been verified, this invoice will be paid as a matter of priority.

(3) Information on improvements planned as a result of the securing by householders of a Green Loan is contained on the loan declaration provided by applicants to the relevant financial institution. The Department has not yet received this information from the financial institutions but will do so as part of the overall audit and evaluation strategy.

To ensure householders have adequate time to see the benefits of both making improvements to their property and sustained behavioural changes, the evaluation and audit of Green Loan recipients is planned to occur in the first quarter of 2011.

As of 14 December 2010, there were 7,774 loans approved, with a total value of $70,930,829.25.

(4) The Department is exploring whether it is possible to provide answers to some or all of these questions.