The largest operator of the Federal Government’s Green Loans program has said it will be seeking compensation for the scheme’s end, saying as many as 500 jobs have been put in jeopardy as a result.
It comes as the Federal Government has been attacked for both the bungled green loans scheme and the insulation rebate debacle, with senate enquiries and audits currently being undertaken to determine how the mistakes occurred.
UXC, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and founded by former rich list member Geoff Lord, will be seeking compensation for assessors working under its subsidiary Fieldforce Services.
But the company will also make a pitch to take over the Green Loans program – or a modified version of it – entirely. .
Fieldforce set up its own call centre and direct line to the Environment Department for booking assessments, a move that has been criticised by other companies in the industry. Frequent bottle-necks were reported by other groups, saying they were sometimes on the phone for hours trying to book in assessment visits.
Competitors said that by setting up its own call centre, at a report cost of over $1 million, Fieldforce managed to avoid a number of these difficulties and secured about 30% of all assessments provided under the scheme.
However, last month the company was hit hard when environment minister Peter Garrett announced changes to the green loans scheme including limiting the number of assessments to just five per week, and no more than three per day.
Fieldforce has said its assessors had been able to earn about $80 per visitation, with many earning as much as $2000 per week. But due to these new restrictions, they would only be able to earn the equivalent of part-time wages.
Other operators have said they will have to see staff let go, with thousands of auditor set to leave the industry to find more lucrative work.
UXC finance director Mark Hubbard says the company has been in discussions with the Government for some time regarding compensation. But he says the ultimate solution would see the Government reform the entire scheme by removing the restrictions and working with private partners.
“Removing the restrictions would be ideal. Part of the reason why they ran into trouble was because it was just open slather, and didn’t control the ramifications of the scheme. They controlled the funding, but it wasn’t being administered properly.”
“You can get rid of this whole difficulty by engaging with a corporate to deliver Government policy, which still delivers benefits to the community in terms of objectives, with regards to economic stimulus.”
“One form of compensation could be us delivering the program entirely,” he says.
Hubbard says UXC would like to be involved in the scheme, and that removing the loans component of the program has called its relevance into question.
“As it was envisaged, what would happen is that you’d have someone trained come in and offer suggestions to reduce utility bills with the end goal being the interest-free loan – but now that isn’t being offered.”
“They need help managing the workflow, as that was a big problem with the scheme. I say that if the Government contracts us to do that we’d do a lot better job than has been done, and get it working.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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