The government’s great details man Gerry Brownlee was reported in the DomPost this morning (article not online) making more claims about the government’s home insulation scheme that just don’t stack up. An Otago University report has argued that the standard of insulation provided isn’t sufficient for homes in colder areas (eg. lower South Island), so Brownlee side-steps the issue by saying there isn’t the capacity to insulate more homes. Actually Gerry, that wasn’t the question! Even then, his claim isn’t true either.
249 businesses applied for approval to deliver home insulation and heating under the government’s scheme but only 60 were approved. I know of a number of businesses that meet the quality standards but were turned away because they weren’t big enough. Gerry ‘bigger is always better’ Brownlee argues there isn’t capacity to insulate more homes but that just isn’t true. If he wasn’t distorting the market by creating monopoly providers there would be plenty of capacity to insulate more homes.
Gerry Brownlee should take the concerns being raised about the scheme seriously. Last month an initial audit by EECA into the scheme said that 63 per cent of the insulation retrofits audited have “problems”, half of which are described in the audit report as “serious”. There have been a string of reports from providers who have had to lay off staff because they were excluded at the last minute. There are suggestions providers who are approved aren’t passing on the full benefit of the subsidy to consumers.
The government needs to look at all of these issues carefully. Brownlee can’t keep bluffing the details. We all want to see more homes properly insulated, but it needs to be done properly. Enough of the cutting corners and PR spin.
Things have gone badly wrong with the Australian scheme – are there any similarities?
Good in principle, a shambles in practice?
That’s a shocker!
And who needs insulation more than the southern dwellers? 
Brownlee is just a nasty person, and nasty people lie.
[Anton - I know that I had a dig at Brownlee in my post, but this is unnecessary. Keep it above the belt]
Not sure why government should intrude into people’s roofspaces and under their floors. K Rudd’s efforts in Australia resulted in 4 deaths, numerous house fires and huge costs to inspect the insulated houses. Krudd himself, of course, won’t be held accountable for any of this, though it was his bright idea.
Long may Gerry Brownlee remain with the Nats, he just drags them down further and further.
Now why doesn’t that other towering intellect , Mr M Williamson get invloved in this shambles…That would round things off nicely.
“Not sure why government should intrude into people’s roofspaces and under their floors.” – Because it’s more interesting than trying to see how many can fit into a mini okay?
Us mainlanders eventually get sick of silly schemes and just do the job ourselves. Sorry to offend you north islanders, but when we have power outages for weeks on end due to severe weather, and then the media makes a big deal about Auckland loosing power for 3 hours, it makes us laugh.
We just get on with things, we have to insulate our houses ourselves or freeze.
On the number of contracters to do the insulation, “the bigger the company,the worse the job”.
Maybe some money could be re-invested back into Adult Education classes to teach people how to do the work themselves. We had huge classe where i live, teaching gib stopping (until it was canned last year due to the cuts).
Richard the the government isnt intruding in peoples roof spaces.
There is a subsidy scheme for those that qualify. They approach the contractor , who is pre-approved , they get a price, the owner pays the contractor, who deducts the government subsidy from the price.
As you see there is no government in anybodys roof, but sounds like you have room up top for insulation
Richard – leaky homes anyone? I’m more than happy for apt standards relating to ceiling and floors…
Tigger
Some argue, with good evidence, that insulation is part of the leaky building problem… Insulation added to homes designed before insulation like Batts was thought of, can cause moisture release problems.
Red Rosa – the Aussie scheme is similar in that it was also rushed and corners were cut, but from what I can gather they have much bigger problems than we do. For starters we don’t put foil into roof cavities, so there isn’t the same risk of electrocution.
Richard – I think ghostwhowalks summed it up pretty well. The govt isn’t in peoples roofspaces, contractors selected and mostly paid for by the homeowner are. Govt subsidies recognise the huge benefits of better home insulation in terms of energy efficiency (less need for more power generation), better health (less pressure on the health system) etc. etc.
Tracey – I have yet to see any credible evidence/research to back up that claim. I’ve heard it, but when done right home insulation should lead to less moisture/dampness.
It would be good if Gerry made people’s health the starting point, Chris.
Here in Ilam, we received a letter-box drop of Gerry holding on to a bag of pink batts, this being his chief achievement in the electorate this year. Thankyou for bringing out what is actually happening behind the scenes.
I am not impressed that the health of NZers is being played with.
The govt isn’t in peoples roofspaces, contractors selected and mostly paid for by the homeowner are.
No, the government is. The government decides which contractors are approved to get subsidies, and has made the decision that their approved contractors should be in your roof rather than you the DIYer.
With just 60 contractors in the country approved and not a single DIYer, how much choice do you think provincial and rural people get?
The government most certainly *is* in our roofs. Next it will be sending us to the naughty corner.
Chris – Are you open to considering the evidence/research if I can lay my hands on it?
I worked as an installer for a company that got all its staff from WINZ. Nobody wanted to be there, but thanks to WINZ, nobody had any free will to refuse. As a result the company I worked for was staffed by disfunctional16-20 year olds that had little to no training and less smarts than my four year old child. The training they received was on-the-job from others that had little to no training themselves. They all turned up to work stoned and or drunk and would continue to top up their stonedness and drunkeness during the day, all day, every day. Gang members, drug dealers, children of drug dealers, tinny house dwellers…criminal element. Those were my work mates and those were the incompetent kids covering up your down-lights and cutting your phone and power cables. I could hear the time bomb ticking so….see ya. My employers idea of health and safety were 2 or 3 shitty paper masks per day. Spent most of my own time flushing the fibers from out the back of my eyeballs, and scratching at my formaldyhide induced excema. Forced into a possibly lethal job by a govt you didn’t vote for….priceless.