Garrett attacked over insulation no-show
February 15, 2010 - 7:19PM
AAP
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has been accused of living in a "different moral universe" for failing to attend a meeting on the safety of roof insulation.
A Senate inquiry has been told of an alleged "gross waste" of taxpayer dollars with ineffective insulation used in up to 400,000 properties under the national home insulation program.
About one million homes have taken advantage of the federal government's program in the past 10 months.
But a study of the insulation being used shows that 30 to 40 per cent is non-compliant, Tino Zuzul, an industry leader, told the Energy Efficient Home Packages Inquiry in Melbourne today.
News of the warnings came as Kevin Rudd stonewalled in the face of media questions about why he pumped so much stimulus money into the sector if he knew it was not properly regulated.
The Prime Minister simply refused to answer the question. He also ignored a question from The Australian about whether the Department of Environment made similar warnings early last year, when cabinet was hammering out the details of the scheme
Does anyone know if Senate enquiries are televised or transcripts made available on the web?
This one should be pretty interesting.
I should have done some enquiring before posting the above. Have now discovered the Enquiry is not being broadcast. A helpful staffer says a transcript will be available probably early next week.
For anyone interested, here is where it can be accessed when completed.
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eca_ctte/eehp/hearings/index.htm
As for Rudd, he speaks about the program in his trademark cold bureaucratese. Nowhere, from either politician, has there been a public hint of sorrow for the tragedy of four hard-grafting young men dead. Instead, they use language to obfuscate and cloud their motives, which in this case is to evade blame - political, legal or moral - for a program ill-conceived and implemented too hastily, without adequate ministerial supervision and with little thought given to outcomes or safety.
First time installers need a lot of supervision or training. The majority of young blokes I put on have to be told consistently through the day of what not to do. If it's dangerous and they don't know the risks, then you can guarantee they will stumble over it without constant warning. Turning of the power would not have occurred to a good % of people. And the roof still would have been live.However, to be fair, the installers surely have to bear some responsibility for not turning the mains power off before doing the installation. It's not unreasonable for Garrett to assume such a simple precaution would have been taken.
At least the home insulation debacle has put the spotlight fairly and squarely on the incapacity of Commonwealth bureaucrats to administer any national program,
God help us if the Commonwealth ever takes over the hospitals, as Rudd keeps threatening.
A new household Renewable Energy Bonus scheme
A new household Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme will assist households save money on power bills and reduce their carbon emissions.
This new Scheme will replace the Home Insulation Program and the Solar Hot Water Rebate Program both of which have been discontinued as of close of business today.
The Government’s focus is on the safety of households and tradespeople who will both benefit from the operation of this new scheme.
Under the household Renewable Energy Bonus scheme households will be able to receive a rebate for the installation of ceiling insulation or a solar hot water system or a heat pump.
$1000 rebates will be available for ceiling installation and solar hot water systems and $600 rebates for heat pumps systems.
The new rebate for solar hot water systems and heat pumps will be available for systems installed after today.
This scheme will institute several key changes to the delivery of ceiling insulation including:
Householders – rather than installers - will claim the $1000 rebate directly through the Medicare system.
Introducing a new registration scheme requiring all installers to reregister, pay a cash bond, show evidence of meeting the training and skills requirements and provide certified quality assurance and occupational health and safety plans.
Introducing a strengthened compliance regime in concert with State and Territory occupational health and safety and fair trading authorities.
It is intended that the insulation component of the Renewable Energy Bonus scheme will come into operation by 1 June.
And now he will be the target - and rightly so - of all the perfectly decent small insulation businesses who have been working ethically, as demand completely dries up between now and June. Obviously they will have to lay off staff, and will have considerable stockpiles of material in hand which will now have to be paid for but which will sit in the warehouse.
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