Mr PETER BESSELING (Port Macquarie) [2.01 p.m.]: Efforts to reduce the impact of human activity on our environment, as well as efforts to reduce the dependence of communities upon electricity and the subsequent demand for increased power generation, have led all levels of government to focus on point-of-impact policy decisions. Public policy to deal with environmental programs is now focusing on the household and the residents within it to participate in broad-scale programs to reduce energy demands, to improve water efficiencies, and to reduce wastewater. Householders are now able to participate in a number of programs that subsidise the cost of solar panels, solar-powered heating, rainwater tanks, energy-efficient light globes, water-efficient toilets and shower heads, and a great range of other measures designed specifically to impact on people's attitudes and behaviours in driving better environmental outcomes.

The departments of local, State and Federal governments support these programs, and generally have the broad support of communities in their approach. In continuing down this path of "household intervention", all tiers of government have struggled to come to terms with the most fundamental principle of delivering services to our communities—that is, to ensure that checks and balances are in place to make sure these programs are delivered efficiently. It is a simple task to highlight the failure of the Federal Government's foray into home insulation as one that was a good idea in principle, but one that was let down through an implementation process that ignored the inherent dangers associated with poor work practices. The subsequent cost of investigating and rectifying issues with the scheme is proving costly and inefficient, and has come far too late for those affected by unsafe installations.

We often hear of early intervention and its inherent benefits when dealing with human services but it is high time that government used these same principles when dealing with programs delivered directly to households. Government must assume that the householder does not have the technical experience or the in-depth level of understanding of the laws and regulations surrounding these programs, to determine whether or not businesses are taking advantage of them or the government program. Government needs to account for substantial policing of these programs when budgets are being prepared, in order to ensure compliance and to give confidence to consumers. These programs all too often rely on consumer feedback to highlight problems and, as a result, safety and financial integrity are often compromised.

Last week, a Crows Nest business, Aspect Energy, was door knocking in the Port Macquarie area, including my home, in a bid to convince householders to swap to a water-efficient showerhead. When I informed the salesperson that I had already installed water-efficient showerheads in my home, which were provided free by our local council, he proceeded to try to convince me that his product was better and that I should still have them installed. Aspect Energy would have benefited from on-selling the renewable energy certificates received from installing the showerheads in my home, despite the fact that my current showerheads are rated and my household uses a gas hot water system—two things that make me ineligible for the program but were ignored by the salesperson. I acknowledge that this could be put down to an individual hawker, but it could also be representative of more wide-scale rorting and is almost certainly the result of poor training and implementation practices that ultimately costs the broader community.

Concerns are held also that companies and individuals are selling solar hot water and solar power systems, solar PV, on the mid-North Coast without proper accreditation and licensing. In many cases, these companies are selling solar hot water or solar PV systems, then subcontracting the installation to a plumber, an electrician or, in some cases, an untrained installer, and then simply having a relevant contractor licensee sign-off on the installation. This raises serious questions of safety and misappropriation of public funds, not to mention the warranty issues for the householder in trying to affect repairs when these systems fail. In order to get serious about cracking down on businesses and individuals taking unfair advantage of these programs, consideration must be given to ensuring that checks and balances are in place to ensure the success of these programs. Relative to New South Wales, this means giving the Office of Fair Trading and WorkCover the resources to not only act upon complaints but also to play a pro-active role in protecting the interests of individuals and the public in general.

[Full Transcript]