Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

If you want to get into details, I will outline what this government intends to do about irresponsible lending practices in this country.

With due respect, you need to open your eyes to what is happening in the rest of the world, with the collapse of the financial system and the economies of every comparable country around the world. Do not deny that that has had a major impact on Australia’s economy, our circumstances and our budget.

Turning to the specific issues that Senator Milne has raised, the guidelines for the low-emission plan for renters and the homeowner insulation program will be available on 26 February. Applications for the landlord rebate can be accepted after those guidelines are released. The homeowner insulation program will be initially run as a rebate reimbursement program until a regional delivery partnership model can be put in place around July 2009. Reimbursement for this new program can be accepted when the new systems are built, which is expected to be in April or May.

On energy audit training for supporting in-house assessments, the government supports the need for better household energy education to help households identify other opportunities, including curtains and draught proofing. Under the green loans program, the government is supporting close to 400,000 energy audits and is working with a range of organisations to train assessors to meet this need. The government is also working with the states and territories through COAG to refocus existing resources, targeting insulation to household audit programs. The states and territories already have programs that are supporting some half a million assessments across the country.

The government has had numerous discussions with a range of industry groups, including manufacturers and their associations and groups, focused on insulation. A detailed workshop to finalise the guidelines and develop training plans and further assess manufacturing capacity is scheduled for next week. Industry have signalled strong support for the package and the ability to meet the requirements if they are involved in the detailed planning, as they will be. The government also has funding for green skills under a range of programs managed by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations that can assist to meet training and capacity expansion for energy efficient home packages.

Senator Milne asked: when will the energy insulation scheme begin and will the states have a role in managing insulation and hot water? The energy-efficient homes package has two insulation elements. The first is the low-emissions plans for renters. As was indicated, the original program was announced as part of our last election commitment. It has been improved with a doubling of the rebate and an increase in the number of rebates available. Program guidelines will be finalised and publicly available by 26 February. The program will then commence. Rebates will be available directly from the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

The second element is homeowner insulation. Again, the program guidelines will be available on 26 February. Households who have insulation installed can keep their receipts and claim their costs from the department once the first stage of the program is operational in the next few months. From 1 July 2009, households will need to call only the call centre. The Commonwealth will be running the tender process for this program, not the states. The call centre is already operational. Stakeholder engagement is already underway. The program will be operational from 1 July 2009. The total value of tax cuts announced is some $9.8 billion for 2009-10 and $13.9 billion for 2010-11. So there are going to be tax cuts, and we look forward to the opposition supporting this.

I want to make one other point. When people receive lump sum payments, there is an underlying theme and critique from the opposition about people misspending the money on gambling, alcohol, smoking and McDonald’s. That was the underlying critique and theme that we have had from a number of opposition senators. Frankly, I find it very offensive.