combet to track down dodgy installers

Good.

GREG COMBET vowed today to track down dodgy operators who committed fraud under the government's home insulation program and announced foil insulation will be removed from thousands of homes.
Mr Combet, the new Assistant Minister for Energy Efficiency, told parliament this afternoon the government would remove foil insulation or install safety switches in more than 50,000 Australian homes.

The taxpayer would pay for safety inspections in at least another 150,000 homes.

Let me assure all those who may have participated in non-compliant or fraudulent behaviour in connection with the Home Insulation Program, that we will track you down, Mr Combet said.

While Mr Combet sought to reassure homeowners that the government was acting to mitigate safety and fire hazard risks, he said the inspections could not guarantee that all risk will be eliminated.


The $2.45 billion home insulation scheme was suspended almost two weeks ago after it was linked to four deaths and more than 90 house fires, raising doubts about the government's ability to deliver programs.

Mr Combet, who was handed responsibility for the scheme after Peter Garrett was demoted, expressed his deepest regret and sympathy for the families of those who had died.

On March 3 he wrote to the Auditor General requesting an urgent audit of the home insulation program.

An initial inspection of around 1000 homes fitted with foil insulation found three per cent had electrical safety risks, Mr Combet said. This included 15 homes with `live' foil.

Of the 50,300 homes that had foil installed, the vast majority were in Queensland and northern NSW.

Under the new foil safety inspection program funded by government, households are to be contacted initially by letter and then by telephone to make a booking for an electrician to make the inspection.

The removal of foil insulation may be the most appropriate safety measure in houses where electrical wiring is old, degraded or damaged, or cannot be inspected because a blanket of insulation has been laid over the wiring, Mr Combet said.

If the wiring is visible and in good condition and the insulation is installed correctly, safety switches may be a safe alternative.

Mr Combet said that in relation to the more than one million households installed with non-foil insulation products, the government was committed to a large scale home inspection program.

Analysis of inspections to date has revealed 66 per cent of installations were fully compliant, 7.6 per cent had fire safety hazards, 16 per cent had other quality issues and 0.5 per cent involved fraud.