Peter Garrett to be quizzed at home insulation commission

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/13/peter-garrett-give-evidence-home-insulation-commission

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Former environment minister Peter Garrett is expected to will front a royal commission on Tuesday after ex-Labor senator Mark Arbib claimed the rock star turned politician was in charge of the troubled home insulation program.

Arbib told the inquiry in Brisbane on Monday that he was not a decision maker and his role was to sell the $2.8bn scheme being developed by Garrett.

The ex-Midnight Oil frontman will take the witness stand on Tuesday, after Mr Arbib finishes his evidence.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd is expected to follow on Wednesday.

Garrett, who had policy control of the program, is expected to be pressed about the safety warnings he received about the program while giving evidence at the $20 million inquiry.

He is also likely to be quizzed about what concerns he relayed to Rudd.

However it's unclear whether the inquiry will be shown letters Garrett wrote to Rudd warning of safety risks in the scheme, as commonwealth lawyers may seek to have them withheld.

Queenslanders Matthew Fuller, Rueben Barnes, Mitchell Sweeney, and Marcus Wilson from NSW, lost their lives installing insulation.

The inquiry has heard how public servants scrambled to rollout the program by July 1 2009, with Rudd's "horrendous" deadline denying them adequate time to consider safety risks.

The home insulation debacle led to Garrett being stripped of his environment portfolio and prompted calls for his resignation.

While Arbib claims Garrett was the one pulling the strings, the inquiry has heard confusion reigned over who was in charge.

Garrett's political adviser Matt Levey said he never understood where the involvement of Arbib, who coordinated the government's stimulus programs, ended or began.

Fuller's father, Kevin, and Barnes's sister, Sunny, are expected to address the inquiry on Thursday.

Former Labor frontbencher Greg Combet, who oversaw the scheme's closure, will appear on Friday.