Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for that introduction, Mr Speaker. I am very pleased to have the chance to raise a matter of great importance on behalf of one of my constituents. It is a matter of great importance because it deals directly with the Gillard Labor government's continuing incompetence when it comes to the management of government programs. I am speaking in particular of this government's decision to axe the solar hot water rebate without announcement, without warning and without natural justice, as far as I am concerned, for those involved in the industry or for those customers who were in the process of purchasing from the industry.

As a result of Labor's snap decision to stop the solar hot water rebate, I received a call from a constituent. Consistent with standing orders, I will not name the constituent. But I will say that this person has a factory in Ashmore in my electorate, employs around 50 staff and had 90 orders on his books for solar hot water systems. Following the Labor Party's announcement axing the scheme without warning, this business owner—a small business man—is now faced with a situation where he potentially has to lay off up to 40 of his 50 staff and where those 90 customers are left without any access to the rebate in order to install their solar hot water system. Of the 90 customers who had placed orders, only about seven had put deposits down. That may seem unusual in some parts of Australia, but to place an order without putting a deposit down is not actually unusual business practice on the Gold Coast. Times have been very tough of late and many customers make the decision to place orders without putting a deposit down—on the basis that they can only hope that the small business they are dealing with will still be in business in a week's time or in a month's time. That is why it has become fairly common practice for orders to be placed without a deposit.

When I rang this constituent, he outlined to me the consequence of Labor's approach to axing the solar hot water rebate without giving any advance warning or notice. He had placed orders for around $300,000 worth of equipment to meet the demand for the 90 or so orders which had been placed with his company. The mortgage on his home, which underscored and provided the surety needed for that order of $300,000 as well as the continued operation of his business, was what he used as equity. Following Labor's snap decision to wake up one day and have the minister announce the axing of the solar hot water rebate, this man now faces the very real risk of losing his home as a consequence of his business possibly going under. How many times do Australians need to be faced with this government making decisions like this, decisions which wreak havoc in their lives?

This is a factual account. After speaking on the day prior, the Thursday, to the man concerned—this man who has a small business, who employs around 50 staff and who has a mortgage on his home to run his business—I rang him again on Friday of last week. His general manager answered the phone. I asked, 'Can I speak to my constituent?' She said, 'You can't; he has been raced to hospital with chest pains.' I felt, right then and there, the profound personal consequences of the stroke of a pen by a government minister.

This is not confined to the solar hot water scheme. The problem is that the government have form. They played with people's lives on live exports when they announced the sudden closure of the live export trade. They played with people's lives on pink batts when they announced the sudden stoppage of that program. How many people must suffer because of the government's incompetence when it comes to running government programs?

The coalition is putting forward a better plan. The shadow minister for the environment is going to move a private member's motion that will ask the Labor Party to commit to the funding that it allocated for the solar hot water program. That funding should be followed through on. Those orders should be honoured. The people who work in this industry, such as the man who is looking at laying off 40 or so staff from his business, deserve to have advanced notice about the end of a program rather than simply have the rug pulled out from underneath them. It is the very least that any decent government should do, and it should undo its mistakes by supporting our private member's motion. (Time expired)