Southport MP. MP for Southport, Gold Coast. Peter Lawlor: peterlawlor.com.au

PO Box 340
Chirn Park
Queensland 4215
Tel: 5532 5068
Fax: 5532 0394
email: southport@parliament.qld.gov.au


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Home Insulation Program
Posted by editor (editor) on Mar 03 2010
2010 >>

Question:-

Mr STEVENS: My question is to the Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading. I refer the minister to

his answer in the House yesterday relating to the house fires this week and to speculation of a causal

link to the Labor Party’s discredited home insulation scheme. The minister this morning has passed the

buck to his colleague the Attorney-General. I table the Minter Ellison report into risks posed by the

program.

Tabled paper: Extract from Minter Ellison risk register relating to the home insulation scheme [1781].

It says there is a high risk posed by substandard insulation. It awards responsibility for policing

standards in Queensland to the Office of Fair Trading. The safety of this defunct program was the

minister’s responsibility until 17 February. Why did the minister do nothing to protect Queenslanders

over the last 10 months?

Answer:-

Mr LAWLOR: I am not too sure whether the member was listening but the simple fact of the

matter is that there was a teleconference on 29 April to discuss the federal government’s home

insulation scheme. The Office of Fair Trading provided input on consumer protection issues which is

what its jurisdiction is. It agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the Department of the

Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to provide information on the consumer complaints received

by the Office of Fair Trading.

The Queensland Office of Fair Trading has subsequently provided fortnightly reports to DEWHA

of all complaints received, of which there have been 208. I went through that yesterday.

Mr Stevens: That’s not what the report says.

Mr LAWLOR: I am just telling you what the situation is.

An honourable member: What did you do?

Mr LAWLOR: I am telling you what the situation is. The Office of Fair Trading has also been in

contact with other relevant agencies, such as the Electrical Safety Office, concerning issues which fall

outside the primary jurisdiction and area of expertise of the Office of Fair Trading. That is the simple

facts of the matter. That is what happened.

Instead of asking the same question all the time and getting the same answer maybe you would

like to direct yourself to some policy instead of the thought bubbles and random statements that pass for

policy on that side of the House.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I would ask the honourable minister to direct his comments through the

chair.

Mr LAWLOR: I will give a few examples of the random thoughts that we get from those opposite.

In terms of extended hours for licensed premises, what did we get from the member for Noosa and the

member for Currumbin? They wanted the government to do something about it. We did something

about it and the leader described it as a stunt. We know the diverse views of those opposite on Gold

Coast light rail. We do not know where they stand with the Carrara upgrade. Some are for it and some

are against it. To give credit to the member for Mermaid Beach and the member for Surfers Paradise,

they supported the Carrara upgrade, but everyone else was against it. We have not got a clue what their

policy is on glassings.

What about the environment? What about bats? The member for Dalrymple wants to shoot them

and the bloke from Indooroopilly says they are an important part of the environment. What is the policy

of those opposite on gaming machines? We do not know. We can only assume it is what is espoused by

the member for Beaudesert. That is, gather up all the poker machines and take them to Roma and turn

Roma into the Las Vegas of Queensland. I presume that is their policy. You blokes ought to get together

and introduce yourself and compare your views.

(Time expired)

Last changed: Mar 03 2010 at 3:27 PM

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Home Insulation Program