Julia Irwin (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. What progress has been made in implementing the government’s Energy Efficient Homes package?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fowler for her question and report to the House that very good progress has been made in rolling out the Energy Efficient Homes package. This package will see the largest rollout of energy efficiency that we have ever had in Australia. It is a rollout of ceiling insulation and solar hot water, as the Prime Minister has just said, to up to 2.7 million Australian homes, slashing energy costs by up to 40 per cent. I am pleased to advise the House that we have received over 2,000 applications for insulation and solar hot water and that the call centre has already received over 33,000 calls. This shows that there is great and enthusiastic interest from Australians who want to take action on energy efficiency and householders who want to save money on energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint.

This is also good for supporting Australian jobs. I note that Bradford Insulation are looking to fill over 70 vacancies as a direct result of the stimulus package, ranging from national accounts managers through to plant operators. NSW Insulation estimate they will create an additional 100 job opportunities over three branches as a direct result of the stimulus package, and those positions are already being filled. This year the Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand simply said:

The federal government’s stimulus package is very welcome and timely. The insulation initiative will help to save and grow local jobs during difficult economic times.

I note that, on 6 March in the Daily Telegraph, the General Manager of Dux Hot Water, Les Patterson, said—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate that members opposite recognise the significance of Mr Patterson’s name, but the fact is that as the General Manager of Dux Hot Water, he said:

The enhanced solar hot water rebate will create countless new manufacturing and installation jobs … It will also support the jobs of tradespeople at a critical time—particularly those who have been recently displaced from mines and other employment.

This is a nation-building and jobs plan and this is the plan that the Liberal and National parties tried to block. They have been knocking it ever since and they are knocking it in the House this afternoon. But the fact is that this is a plan that delivers jobs. It delivers jobs through a package which not only enables local industry to get out there and put ceiling insulation in the roofs of Australian houses and solar hot water systems on the roofs of Australian homes but also produces low-pollution jobs and local jobs and delivers on our election promises in a way that the opposition can only dream about.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I would ask if the minister could table the notes from which he was speaking and also indicate how much of that plan is being spent on advertising.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Flinders will resume his seat. The member for Flinders can ask for public documents that the minister might have been referring to but he cannot come in here and debate at the dispatch box. Was the minister quoting from a document?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Was the document confidential?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.