Lest we forget? The home insulation scheme ...

During October 2009, one installer (Mr Birnie) indicated that the only training he had received before being sent out to install aluminium reflective insulation in Brisbane roofs was 2.5 hours on a job with a supervisor.

Another unnamed installer (known as Peter) noted in October 2009 that, because cables can be so obscured by decades of dust and grime that would endanger an installer when cutting through a batt, he urged that that installers should have a minimum of a week’s training and compulsory viewing of a video highlighting the electrical risks involved. He noted that 60 per cent of trade assistants sent up into roofs by insulation companies were aged between 16 and 18.

Lorne McCulloch, a Sydney builder who had worked as a government auditor checking installations at about 120 properties from October 2009 to January 2010, also declared that the inspector training was “a total waste of taxpayers’ money” and that 10 per cent of homes inspected had poorly fitted insulation.

There were also potential health problems for installers. With a shortage of domestic insulation batts leading to significant imports from China, Thailand and the US, several insulation industry leaders warned of dangers from formaldehyde in the batts, a substance (although not specifically banned) which has been linked to respiratory problems and cancer.

The Polyester Insulation Manufacturers Association lodged a submission on December 18, 2009 to warn the government about excessive levels of formaldehyde, while Doug Mill (the managing director of the Demand Group) also wrote to Garrett warning that high temperatures in the roof could “release gases such as formaldehyde”.

During February 2010, it was reported that installers (with inadequate protective clothing) may have been exposed to dangerous levels of lead, which is known to cause severe neurological, reproduction and kidney problems and even death in the case of high doses. This was because most houses built more than 30 years ago contained dust in their roofs containing high levels of lead caused by particles arriving there from the air pollution caused by leaded petrol, which was banned in Australia in 2002.

So how could a government be so naïve? And how could a government adopt such a policy knowing full well that there were various safety and rorting concerns from a variety of players?

As one editorial stated, “the real villains here are a government and a bureaucracy so naïve as to imagine that this free-for-all program would not be rorted, and so patently unable to design a program to protect taxpayer dollars” (“Not out of the woods on batts”, The Australian, April 23, 2010).

As early as March 2009, it was already evident that some of the new insulation companies were shoddy operators. Justin Beck, manager of installation company Patnicar, indicated that those new to the industry were cutting corners, quoting jobs using Google Earth to view the homes and not specifying materials.

As radio personality Ray Hadley noted, tougher insulation industry audits were obviously needed given his knowledge of one owner receiving the same $1,595 quote for a five-bedroom house and a one-bedroom investment unit.

Andrew Laming, Liberal Member for Bowman in Brisbane, during October 2009 also questioned how quotes “mysteriously come in at $1,600 for even the smallest of homes” despite the price of insulation increasing from $19 a bag in July to $32 a bag in September.

One Sydney builder, who had been fitting home insulation for five years before the scheme began, noted that the insulation market was like a spaghetti western movie with “so many cowboys out there”. “People who had no experience were being hired to do the work and everybody was billing for the total amount of the grant rather than what the job actually cost. It was a giant rort and nobody in authority seemed to care.”