Court action adds to Garrett's woes

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett. Photo / Kenny Rodger

CANBERRA - Environment Minister Peter Garrett's problems deepened yesterday as a Queensland man lodged a State Supreme Court action after he allegedly received a "massive" electric shock from the faulty installation of government-subsidised insulation.

The claim is the first to be brought against the Government in the deepening scandal over the mismanagement of a A$2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) programme to cut energy costs by insulating almost three million homes.

About 50,000 have been identified as potentially at risk.

The poorly-supervised scheme allowed untrained and inexperienced contractors to install foil insulation, in some homes electrifying roofs through contact with ceiling wiring and causing the deaths of four people, other serious injuries and 86 house fires.

Garrett last week suspended the use of foil insulation and ordered a national audit of houses insulated under the programme, amid rising anger and calls for his sacking by the Opposition.

Garrett, a former rock singer and environmental champion, has become a key target for the Opposition and critics of the Government's green initiatives.

He drew further criticism yesterday for failing to attend a meeting in Canberra called for an urgent assessment of foil insulation and its continued use.

Although officials of his department were at the meeting with electrical safety experts, electricians, unions and representatives of the foil insulation industry, Garrett's decision to instead continue with the launch of another green scheme in northern New South Wales gave his critics further ammunition.

"I don't go to technical experts' meetings in the normal course of events - my officials go to those meetings," he said.

"They'll provide me with the appropriate reports and I'll listen to those discussions that have been undertaken."

He said he was instead making an important announcement on biodiversity and defended the subsidised insulation as one of the most significant energy-efficient programmes the nation had seen.

"It will leave a tremendous legacy of homes insulated, and safety has always been a priority for us under this programme," he said.

In Brisbane, lawyers for 63-year-old Gold Coast man Colin Brierley lodged an action with the Supreme Court alleging neglect by the federal Government in the management of the scheme.

ABC radio reported that Brierley received a shock his doctors were "amazed" he had survived when he checked the insulation in his roof last October, a week after it had been installed under the programme.

He said the jolt of power went through his knee and exited his head, ABC radio reported.

The Australian yesterday also carried a picture of burns victim Monique Pridmore, 19, showing an appalling wound to her left leg from when she suffered an electric shock next to her boyfriend, Matthew Fuller, 26, who was killed.

The couple had started installing insulation under Garrett's programme only the previous week.

"There was no safety training, no warning that it could be dangerous, absolutely nothing," Pridmore told the newspaper. "We would not have gone up into those ceilings if we had known."

Critics claim that Garrett, who is so far surviving in his job with the backing of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, ignored warnings of problems in the programme.

Even the unions, traditional Labor heartland, have rounded on the minister.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow said the Government was asked to stop the programme last November after three people had died.

But Rudd told the Ten Network that he supported Garrett and that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had rushed to judgment in blaming the minister before the outcomes of coronial and workplace inquiries into the deaths of the four installers was known.

Abbott replied: "You can't be responsible for mismanagement and incompetence on a grand scale and not pay a price."

For Rudd, the insulation scandal is another step in the siege tower Abbott is building against the Government ahead of this year's election, adding to a growing list of problems facing the Government.

A new Morgan poll has confirmed a continuing trend against Labor, although the Government maintained a 7 percentage point lead in the two-party preferred vote that determines Australian elections.