Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery, Senator Arbib. I refer the minister to the monthly reports which were provided to him by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet about the progress of the Home Insulation Program and which were recently released to the Senate inquiry. I note the reports consist almost entirely of information about how much money was paid out under the program. Did the minister ever seek information about the quality, standards or safety of the insulation program?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Birmingham for his question. Yes, a number of documents in relation to the stimulus have been released and Senator Birmingham does have them in his possession.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State and Scrutiny of Government Waste) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It took a while.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator Rondaldson, it did take a while, but you do have them, don’t you? These documents relate to information concerning all elements of the stimulus package across the 49,000 projects that are taking place and also information concerning the insulation package. We have discussed this before and there have been many misrepresentations and much misinformation spread by Liberal Party senators and members about my role. I would like to state to the Senate my role was maximising jobs and ensuring the implementation coordination of the programs. That was my role. The reports that were provided by the Office of the Coordinator-General go to that role and provided me with information to allow me to undertake those duties.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Did the minister, in receiving and considering these reports—assuming he read them—ever consider that the reported substantial increase in uptake and rapid growth in registered businesses conducting installations might lead to problems with quality, standards and safety? If so, what action did he take?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The issues that Senator Birmingham has raised have been discussed extensively by me in this place in the numerous question times where I answered these questions. They have been discussed in Senate estimates hearings time and time again by all the individual representatives of the Office of the Coordinator-General and the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. And, of course, the issues that have been raised have been answered in detail in response to questions on notice that have been provided by Senator Birmingham and also by other Liberal Party and coalition senators.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I note that the minister seems to be confusing discussion with dodging when it comes to what takes place in this chamber. If the minister never sought additional information about quality, standards or safety from these monthly briefings highlighting the rapid pace of payments and new installation businesses, will he concede that his entire focus in this program was putting speed before safety?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again, the premise of the question is incorrect, because Senator Birmingham has attempted to misrepresent my position and what my role was. Again, I have informed the Senate—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz interjecting—

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You may laugh, Senator Abetz, but this is something that I have raised many times in this place. Liberal Party senators can ask me question after question on it, but I can only answer as to what my role was and what I undertook in that role.