Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery, Senator Arbib. Did any departmental officials ever advise or suggest to the minister or his staff that the starting date of the Home Insulation Program should be delayed?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There were meetings with departments, not just the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. I met with departments relevant to all aspects of the stimulus: education, housing and defence housing. There were numerous discussions about the rollout of the stimulus. I state again that there is a total misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what my role was as the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery. They have been trying all week to misrepresent me and my role, but it is pretty clear that the individual ministers in each portfolio were responsible for their—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, a point of order: the minister has been going for more than a minute on what was a very simple and direct question. I draw your attention to the relevance of his answer. He is answering questions from earlier this week and failing to answer the very direct question: did any departmental officials ever advise or suggest to the minister or any of his staff that the starting date of the Home Insulation Program should be delayed? It should be a simple yes-or-no answer.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on the point of order: the minister has been directly answering the question. What we now have is an opportunity for the questioner to ask the question again—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Ludwig, resume your seat. When there is silence, we will proceed.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has been directly answering the question. But we have now seen the opposition take a point of order to simply restate the question. That clearly is impermissible. Mr President, you should rule that point of order out of order and get the opposition to note that they should not use the opportunity of a point of order to simply restate the question.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the point of order, Senator Arbib, I draw your attention to the question. There is 54 seconds remaining to address the question.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. Again, there has been a complete misrepresentation by coalition senators on what my role was. As I have stated time and time again, I am advised that there was a whole suite of work that formed an overall risk assessment for this program. As I have said, this was not confined just to the Minter Ellison document that the coalition has gone on and on about. But, because you have gone on about the Minter Ellison report, I am happy to respond to some of those risk-assessment issues, such as that on page 5, where they identified the risk of house fire—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Arbib, I do ask you to return to the question.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have asked the minister to return to the question. Minister, you have 16 seconds remaining to answer the question.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I was answering the question. In terms of the briefings that Senator Birmingham has asked me to talk about—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. On the matter of direct relevance, you just asked the minister to return to the question. He simply responded by saying, ‘I was addressing the question’—ignoring your ruling. He has five seconds left in which he can still answer this question with the word ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot instruct the minister how to answer the question. I have said this repeatedly. I have drawn the minister’s attention to the question that was asked. I have asked the minister to address the question that was asked. You are right: there are five seconds remaining. The minister has five seconds to address the question that was raised by Senator Birmingham.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I have answered the question. This just shows the semantic word games that the coalition continue to play on this issue— (Time expired)

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I will not waste the time of the Senate by posing the initial question that the minister failed to answer again. Given the minister’s statements yesterday and on Tuesday that his role at these regular meetings with officials was ‘to ensure the rollout was proceeding smoothly and on time’, did the minister or his office ever suggest to departmental officials that the implementation of the insulation program be sped up, or stress that there could be no delays to the implementation of this program?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to go and check my records and provide an answer.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot be expected to remember every conversation that happens. It was a long time ago. But, at the same time as that, I worked along with the Office of the Coordinator-General to ensure that the stimulus was rolled out as smoothly as possible. As I have said, we have, according to Treasury, supported 200,000 Australian jobs. Talk to the Master Builders—50,000 jobs supported in the construction sector. Those on the other side of the chamber, those Liberal Party and National Party senators, do not want to hear about it. They do not want to hear about it because they voted against the stimulus—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. The minister, at the beginning, said he would check his records. If that is the minister taking it on notice, then he can take it on notice; but none of the rest of his answer since then has been at all relevant to the question that was asked.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. As I have said, I cannot tell the minister how to answer the question. I am listening closely to the answer that the minister is giving. I draw the minister’s attention to the question. The minister has 11 seconds remaining.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If coalition senators have any concern for insulation workers, insulation businesses, they can walk down the hall, go to Mr Abbott and ensure that he supports the new— (Time expired)

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given the minister will not deny that he told departmental officials to speed things up, why did the Rudd government ignore the recommendation in the Minter Ellison risk assessment that the implementation of the Home Insulation Program should be delayed by three months? Does the minister agree that accepting this advice could have helped to protect lives, homes, jobs and businesses?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I have said a number of times this week, my understanding and my advice is that the Minter Ellison report was just one of the items, just one of the bits of information, that Minister Garrett and his department relied upon. Again, Mr Garrett has stated time and time again that he was in consultation and discussion with the insulation sector, with the industry, with the training bodies, to ensure that the compliance and auditing system was in place for the rollout of the system.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Bob Brown is waiting to ask his question. He is entitled to be heard in silence.