In a further embarrassment highlighting Julia Gillard’s program chaos, the Federal Government has today announced it is scrapping yet another one of its key environmental schemes.
It continues a pattern of disaster and mismanagement in the environment portfolio.
We’ve had the collapse of the Home Insulation Program, the demise of the Green Loans scheme, the axing of the $8000 solar rebate, the scrapping of the solar rebate for remote areas, the suspension of Solar Schools, the Citizens’ Assembly that never was, the no carbon tax promise – and now the Green Start program that has been shut down even before it began.
Green Start has become Green Stop – just as the Opposition predicted on the day it was announced.
Since its announcement we have said that the Green Start program would not work; it was a recipe for further fraud and chaos, and would be more waste of money.
Just before the election a Senate inquiry recommended the Green Start program not proceed. Julia Gillard scoffed at the idea then. After the election, she’s agreed with it.
The Gillard Government went to the election on a lie. Every element that contributed to today’s decision to stop the Green Start program was known.
All of the program’s flaws – suddenly discovered now – were known at the time of the election.
The only reason the Government took this latest example of failure to the election was to try and buy the support of almost 10,000 assessors who were the victims of the earlier Green Loans program.
The Government should apologise for this manifest and abject lie.
Julia Gillard should also explain why some assessors could be forced to wait another whole year for compensation under today’s announcement. Having been victims of bungling under Green Loans, it is unconscionable that they are being further penalised by such a delay.
If the Government can’t get programs like Green Start or Pink Batts right, how can the public trust them to introduce a massive new electricity tax?
All eyes are now on Julia Gillard’s Cash for Clunkers embarrassment as the next program likely to bite the dust.