Home sustainability assessors left out of pocket through the Rudd/Gillard Government’s mismanagement of its Green Loans Program are among those giving evidence to a Senate inquiry hearing in Sydney tomorrow.
The Senate’s Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts is inquiring into the Green Loans Program, which delivered less than one per cent of the 200,000 loans Labor promised at the 2007.
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Action Simon Birmingham moved for the inquiry, and is participating in the inquiry including tomorrow’s hearing.
“It is nearly four months since Penny Wong as Energy Efficiency Minister took over the Green Loans mess from Peter Garrett, and outlined the steps she was supposedly taking to address the program’s many problems,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“Yet even today, trained assessors remain in limbo waiting for contracts to be finalised, contracted assessors are being paid late for the limited work they can now undertake, householders are waiting on reports from assessments undertaken as long ago as October, and there’s no word on when overdue audits and reviews into the Green Loans program will be finished, let alone whether their findings will be made public.
“I look forward to this Senate inquiry fully exploring the issues surrounding this complete debacle of a program, as well as hopefully providing some comfort and finding a way forward for the many Australians hurting as a result.”
What: Senate inquiry hearing into the Government’s mismanaged Green Loans Program
When: 9.30am, Tuesday 29 June 2010
Where: Harbour Room, The Portside Centre, Symantec House, Level 5, 207 Kent Street, Sydney
Further information in relation to the Senate committee inquiry is available at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eca_ctte/green_loans/index.htm