End insulation scheme now: industry

The multi-billion-dollar home insulation program should be suspended immediately, an
industry leader says, as safety issues dog an industry that has been unregulated for
decades.
House fires, electrical problems and health hazards have plagued the ceiling
insulation program since it was ramped up at enormous speed as part of the
government stimulus program, Brian Tikey, president of the Aluminium Foil Insulation
Association, told a Senate inquiry on Wednesday.
With $3.7 billion in government rebates on offer, the market has become flooded with
cheap and inferior insulation from overseas, to the point where warehouses are
"bulging" with foreign products that don't meet Australian standards, he says.
Foil insulation has been suspended from the program after four installers died in
the past 10 months but Mr Tikey said the problems run deeper than foil insulation
and were industry-wide.
"You've got an industry that's awash with untrained installers," he told the inquiry
in Melbourne.
All insulation products, not just foil, should be suspended from the federal program
immediately until the problems were addressed, he said.
"It's been a free-for-all," he said.
"There's no duty of care."
The suspension call came as industry groups disputed the level of "useless"
insulation that has flooded the market.
Tino Zuzul of the Polyester Insulation Manufacturers Association of Australia told
the inquiry substandard insulation could be found in up to 40 per cent of homes and
the rebate program was seriously flawed.
After testing imported insulation, primarily fibreglass, his organisation discovered
only two products from the United States met Australian insulation standards.
"There has been a gross waste of taxpayer dollars," he said.
Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding said if the allegation was true then the
entire home insulation program had been an "outrageous" waste of taxpayer money.
Prime minister Kevin Rudd says he's "unaware" of any concerns about levels of the
toxic chemical formaldehyde in ceiling insulation batts imported from overseas.
It was reported last week that Environment Minister Peter Garrett had been warned by
several industry figures that cheap imports contained the chemical.
"I'm unaware of anything concerning that matter," Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra.
The substandard insulation claim was swiftly rejected by the main industry body, the
Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand (ICANZ), as a load of "nonsense".
Director Ray Thompson told the inquiry their own examination found only two per cent
of insulation was non-compliant and it all came from China.
"We know all of our products are compliant," he said, saying they supply 68 per cent
of the market.
"That means every other product that's going into this program is non-compliant. And
that's clearly nonsense."
About one million households have taken advantage of the federal program since it
was launched last year.
Mr Garrett faced renewed calls to resign after the inquiry heard claims of faulty
insulation and repeated accusations that he had been warned more than 18 times about
safety issues.
"Lives have been lost, homes have been lost, businesses will go under," Senator
Simon Birmingham said outside the hearing.
"It's fail, fail, fail on all counts for Peter Garrett."
Dennis D'Arcy, CEO of ICANZ, told the inquiry there was no government-mandated
training before the rebate program - it was left up to each company's internal
policies.
National guidelines were drafted when the scheme was first introduced and were
toughened after workers died.