Peter Garrett, who abandoned his rock star career to become Australia’s environment minister, was under mounting pressure yesterday to resign over his handling of a government program to insulate homes that has seen four workers die while on the job.
Garrett, who occasionally reprises his role as Midnight Oil frontman for charity events, risks becoming only the second minister forced to resign from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government since it was elected in 2007.
The A$3.7 billion (US$3.3 billion) program was announced a year ago with the aim of installing free insulation in 2.7 million homes. Since then, more than 1 million homes have been insulated, but four laborers have died in on-the-job accidents.
Shoddy workmanship has also been blamed for house fires and metal insulation sheeting becoming electrified in the ceilings of hundreds of homes.
Opposition lawmakers have accused Garrett of ignoring repeated warnings about the dangers of using underqualified tradesmen to handle the installations.
Garrett this week suspended the roll-out of metal foil insulation and ordered safety inspections of almost 49,000 homes where it has already been installed after two workers were electrocuted. Another two laborers have died installing more commonly used fiberglass batts.
Garrett this week acknowledged that government and industry officials had warned him of potential safety risks from a lack of mandatory training and regulation, but he denied that he had failed to act on the warnings.
The pressure grew yesterday with a state government minister, Troy Buswell, alleging that federal officials had revealed in confidential discussions last April that they “expected a failure rate of around 10 percent” through “things like unsatisfactory workmanship.”
Garrett replied that he knew of no expected failure rate.
“I continue to do the job. I expect to continue to do the job,” Garrett told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio when asked if he would resign.
Rudd said yesterday that he had “absolute confidence” in Garrett.
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