Simon Birmingham SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin
2:49 pm
My question is to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery, Senator Arbib. Did the minister brief Minister Garrett, the Prime Minister or any other ministers about the risks of fire or electrocution, following the weekly meetings that he attended involving the development of the home insulation program?
Mark Arbib NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
The answer is: no, I did not, because those issues were never raised with me and were never raised at any of the meetings I was involved in. I have outlined my role: assisting all departments, all ministerial offices and all state governments in the coordination of the stimulus package. I was involved in meetings with advisers from all ministers’ officers that were involved. Every time advice was provided to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts on issues and problems in relation to the implementation of that program, the minister acted and brought in tougher guidelines to try and weed out the shonks and weed out companies that were not playing by the rules. At the same time, he raised training and accreditation within the sector. Those on the opposite side can whinge and whine and skite all they like about it; they have opposed the stimulus. They have opposed the job-saving measures of these programs from day one. And that is why, today, they are here once again—after voting against it six times—showing their absolute contempt for working Australians and for jobs. And can I say again—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Senators:
Opposition senators interjecting—
Mark Arbib NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
Can I say again, the government will do everything it can to stand by workers who lose their positions because of the change in the program. Two days ago I announced that the government would provide an extra $10 million to provide 2,000 training places out of the structural adjustment program, taking to 6,000 the number of training places available to workers in the insulation industry. At the same time as that— (Time expired)
Simon Birmingham SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin
Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Does the minister really expect the Senate to believe that, in attending weekly briefings from February 2009 about the implementation of the home insulation program, he never had issues of potential fire or electrocution raised in his presence? Can the minister confirm that statement he just made to the house? And was the minister told, as quoted in the Minter Ellison report, that the time available to develop and deliver the program in a properly controlled way may be inadequate? Did he— (Time expired)
Mark Arbib NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
I can confirm that those issues were not raised in briefings to me. Again, I will say that the Minter Ellison report was not provided to my office until 12 February this year. The issues I was focused on were: ensuring that workers involved in the sector had the training that was required but also that fraud—
Mathias Cormann WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training
Have you ever talked to a worker?
George Brandis Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General
You are a failure on your own terms!
John Hogg President
Order! Senator Cormann and Senator Brandis, it is disorderly to constantly interject.
Mark Arbib NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
What I was concerned about was to ensure that shonks in the sector, shonks that would be attracted to this sort of a program, would have little support and that the government would take whatever action necessary to drive them out. Again, Minister Garrett has taken action. Time and time again—every time an issue has been raised with him—he has lifted the standards, lifted the compliance and lifted the auditing—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Senators:
Honourable senators interjecting—
John Hogg President
Order! I remind senators that shouting across the chamber during question time is completely disorderly and, secondly, there is a time for debating these issues that is set aside at the end of question time so that people can make comments on these issues.
Simon Birmingham SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin
Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Minister Arbib, given Minister Garrett failed to read a report for some 10 months and you claim to have attended weekly briefings where issues of risk were never raised, and given the tragic loss of four lives, the damage to nearly 100 homes from fire and the risk now faced by tens of thousands of homeowners, will you concede that the actions taken by both you and Minister Garrett on the implementation of this scheme were manifestly inadequate?
Mark Arbib NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
I will say again that Minister Garrett, whenever an issue was raised—whether it was about metal staples, whether it was about foil insulation, whether it was advice he received in terms of training—stepped in to increase the level of compliance, increase the level of auditing and increase the level of training provided. Obviously any workplace death—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Senators:
Opposition senators interjecting—
Mark Arbib NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
Obviously we are very saddened by any death in the workplace, and obviously there were four deaths in relation to this program. At that time the minister stepped in and again raised the standards within the sector. So the minister has acted and he has done the job required. It is unfortunate that, in the end, the shonks—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Senators:
Honourable senators interjecting—
John Hogg President
Order! I remind senators that shouting across the chamber is completely disorderly.
Michael Ronaldson Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State and Scrutiny of Government Waste
So is telling untruths!
John Hogg President
I think you should withdraw that, Senator Ronaldson.
Michael Ronaldson Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State and Scrutiny of Government Waste
I withdraw it.