The Rudd Government is rightly being condemned by Green Loans home sustainability assessors protesting outside Parliament House this morning, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Action Simon Birmingham said today.
“Green Loans has been a monumental breach of promise and a monumental case of mismanagement by Peter Garrett and the Rudd Government,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“The Government has stuffed around assessors at every opportunity, including by
- promising the appointment of 1000 assessors, but training nearly 10,000;
- requiring a system of booking assessments with Government, but failing to provide a bookings system that could cope with demand;
- promising that home sustainability audits would be supported by loans, but then cancelling the program’s loans component without warning;
- promising that home sustainability audits would be supported by $50 Green Rewards Cards, but then failing to deliver a single card; and
- allowing the Green Loans program to be plagued by suggestions of substandard training, fraud and preferential treatment.
“These assessors have invested their time, money and hopes in yet another broken promise of the Rudd Government. They have paid a high price for the Government’s incompetence.
“The Green Loans program is yet another failed energy efficiency program that has wasted millions of dollars, including on fixing up the mess it has created.
“Kevin Rudd clearly thought Green Loans was enough of a mess to strip responsibility for it from Mr Garrett and hand it to Penny Wong.
“Yet Senator Wong has failed to even deliver reviews into the failings of this program on time.
“It is now time for Mr Rudd or Senator Wong to explain what they will do for the thousands of assessors hurting as a result of the Government’s incompetent mismanagement.”