Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. I refer the minister to his departmental secretary’s evidence yesterday that the $2.5 billion Home Insulation Program was the ‘subject of weekly discussions with the minister’. She further said, ‘Briefings that I was involved in with the minister continually referred to the risks in the program.’ Does the minister expect the House to believe that the Minter Ellison risk assessment report was never raised at any of these meetings?

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

As I indicated in my answers in the House yesterday and as the secretary and other officials indicated when they gave evidence to the Senate committee, I have always received briefings from the department on the basis of risks that have been identified through a range of different sources, including those risks that were identified by Minter Ellison. Whether identified by Minter Ellison or any other source, I have always taken action on the basis of addressing those risks. I have never suggested that I was not aware of the risks in rolling out this program, including those identified by Minter Ellison, industry bodies, state authorities and others. A risk assessment process was underway and it was my responsibility to take advice from the department to determine how those risks, as identified, should be managed. Those processes included roundtables I attended, advice from my office, correspondence, direct discussion with officials and the like. It is important to emphasise that the very purpose of conducting risk assessments is to scope risks, identify challenges and put in place the right mechanisms to respond to them in the program’s final design, and that is what I did in this case.

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

Order! I ask the member for Ryan to remove his advertising. The use of that type of ambush marketing does not bring credit to the House.