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Monday, 4 July 2011
Page: 7469

Home Insulation Program

Debate resumed on the motion by Mr Fletcher:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) many home owners have reported incidents of suspected fraudulent insulation claims under the Government's Home Insulation Program to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency;

(b) the Department has indicated to complainants that they may never be provided with advice about the outcome of investigations in each case; and

(c) the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and his Department, have failed to provide information concerning the number of claims of fraud that have been made or of instances of fraud which have been detected;

(2) condemns the Government for failing to:

(a) provide specific information to home owners about the outcome of investigations into alleged fraud at their homes; and

(b) report to Parliament, and to Australian taxpayers who have funded the Home Insulation Program, the details on the number of claims of fraud that have been made or of instances of fraud which have been detected; and

(3) calls on the Minister to:

(a) direct his Department to provide information to home owners on an ongoing basis concerning the progress of investigations into incidents of suspected fraud reported by those home owners;

(b) immediately authorise an additional 50,000 random home inspections from within allocated funds; and

(c) provide regular reports to the Australian public concerning investigations into fraud under the Home Insulation Program, that include the number of:

(i) claims of alleged fraud that have been received, identified in the Government commissioned forensic audit, and investigated;

(ii) cases investigated that have been completed, and those that resulted in prosecutions, along with the outcomes of each;

(iii) prosecutions that are in train; and

(iv) cases where steps have been taken to seek restitution from fraudulent claimants, and the outcomes of such cases