KEVIN Rudds direct knowledge of serious risks to public safety and other major policy defects in the deadly $2 billion home-insulation debacle will be examined in a new legal action by 65 companies that lost more than $100 million. The decision of the Home Insulation Industry Action Group yesterday to instruct its Sydney solicitors, McLaughlin & Riordan, to launch formal proceedings has come at the worst possible time for the Prime Minister, in the middle of an election campaign, following scathing findings by a Queensland coroner last month and by the Auditor-General in 2010. ....a policy and planning shambles meant hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs in the industry were wiped out, along with the savings and retirement prospects of operators who went into debt to participate in the program. Mr Stewart, 65, (chairman of the HIAG), accused Mr Rudd of being disingenuous for hiding confidential documents and briefing notes that the Prime Minister and cabinet received when safety and other risks were obvious and being stressed by experienced industry figures. The government (Rudd govt) ignored advice from its own specialist consultants and from industry groups before the commencement of the scheme. It then failed to properly administer and monitor the program ... unscrupulous operators were invited in, resulting in extremely unsafe practices with tragic results. Insulation companies are seeking .... compensation for commercial losses suffered by members resulting from the creation, administration and sudden termination of the Home Insulation Program in 2009 and 2010. Some of our clients are bankrupt, some are in liquidation or other form of administration, and it is fair to say that most of them are in dire financial straits. ..Its initial budget was $2.8bn, but within weeks an internal risk-assessment, commissioned from law firm Minter Ellison, had identified 19 extreme and high level risks that without mitigation would adversely affect the delivery of the scheme.... Rudd ignore ALL advice which included identifying the risk of fraud and safety. A senior figure in Rudds office asked one of Rudds aides, Is there any way of delaying this scheme while we sort installer training, safety standards - that sort of thing? The aide replied, The Prime Minister wants it started now and its very difficult to argue with a Prime Minister with a 76 per cent approval rating. A department project officer said, We expect houses will burn down. (SO THEY KNEW AND DID NOTHING) ..A company operator, Matthew Hannam, states that he told one of the key public servants: Youre going to kill people if you let (untrained) installers in from outside the industry. The public servant allegedly replied: Its all about jobs. We understand there may be injuries. EVERYONE KNEW THERE WERE GOING TO BE INJURIES AND HOUSES WERE GOING TO BURN DOWN BUT THE RUDD GOVERNMENT WENT AHEAD ANYWAY. m.theaustralian.au/news/investigations/kevin-rudds-role-in-insulation-batts-debacle-revisited/story-fn6tcxar-1226693140523
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 21:58:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015