Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I have just found some information, Senator Colbeck, in relation to your first question. A range of manual payments were received by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts in the seven days after the closure of the program—around 107,000 manual claims. That has obviously put a strain on the payments system. To help address concerns, I can indicate that Medicare Australia has put on extra staff to assist in the processing of the backlog of these claims. The payments will not be made to companies until it is clear they have satisfied the necessary compliance requirements. I would make clear that the compliance checking may take some time but I am advised that the department is working hard to process the claims as quickly as possible. So the figure was 107,000 manual claims in the first seven days.

In relation to the industry issues, the government is considering all issues in relation to the closure of the Home Insulation Program. (Time expired)