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The lead singer in Midnight Oil sung "How do we sleep / While our beds are burning" in 1987... and in 2009 the same person (Peter Garret), in his position as Mi

by i336_ 9y ago

The lead singer in Midnight Oil sung "How do we sleep / While our beds are burning" in 1987... and in 2009 the same person (Peter Garret), in his position as Minister for Environment Protection (among other things), was the driving force behind a home-insulation scheme that was found to be the cause of 224 house fires. You basically have to have a humorectomy to be able to follow Australian politics. Otherwise you go crazy from too much cracking up. -- Some qualifying info to add some substance so this isn't just hyperbole and commentary: - IIRC, what was happening is that the installers weren't being paid enough, and they were nailing the insulation haphazardly without identifying where the 240V lines ran underneath the batts so they could dodge those areas with their staple guns. Said insulation batts had foil on them. So sparks flew where wood met aluminium and exposed/partially-shorted wiring. Even more tragically, four installers were also electrocuted (AFAIK/IIUC) by live foil on the batts during installation. - Mr Garret was actually really mature about the situation and took full responsibility, stated that he wasn't fully informed about various risks, and did raise issues about safety multiple times that were not listened to. So there's that. Some random sources/articles I found: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/peter-garrett-tells-royal-commission-he-was-responsible-for-batts-rollout/news-story/6045bce27f3fbd63ecd5fd5537bc93e4 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/peter-garre... http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/peter-garrett-was-in-charge-of-home-insulation-program-mark-arbib-20140512-zr9zr.html http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/peter-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Garrett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Garrett

flukus 9y ago
> was the driving force behind a home-insulation scheme that was found to be the cause of 224 house fires. House fires went down statistically. The absolute number of fires was higher because more homes were getting insulation, but fires per insulated home went down. The real cause is business efficiency, hiring cheaper workers and not training them properly. You can't hold the government responsible for every grunt a private business hires. You don't hear the current lot taking direct responsibility for the recent shooting in our offshore detention facilities. Edit - in hindsight it's a perfect example of how "fake news" isn't a recent problem.
- i336_ 9y ago
  >> was the driving force behind a home-insulation scheme that was found to be the cause of 224 house fires. > House fires went down statistically. The absolute number of fires was higher because more homes were getting insulation, but fires per insulated home went down. Oh. I didn't know that. So you mean this occurred after the installation...? > The real cause is business efficiency, hiring cheaper workers and not training them properly. You can't hold the government responsible for every grunt a private business hires. Absolutely, yeah. I was trying to get at that idea but didn't quite articulate it. (Thanks.) > You don't hear the current lot taking direct responsibility for the recent shooting in our offshore detention facilities. Indeed :/ (I have to admit I honestly just don't understand why the offshore detention system has to be the way that it is. But this is largely due to my ignorance of the various variables and difficulties of the situation.)
  - flukus 9y ago
    The fires occur after the installation, 50% occur within 10 days of installation, here is a very long and detailed analysis (with some CSIRO analysis as well): https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/04/24/the-csiro-gets-hip-to-debunking-media-hysteria/ https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/04/24/the-csiro-g...
    - i336_ 9y ago
      Wow, this is great. Thanks for the link!
  - Khaine 9y ago
    Yeah, people tried to argue that the fire risk was lower, but that its because in a large number of cases the insulation was not actually installed, or was installed so poorly that it didn't improve the R value and therefore unlikely to be a fire risk.
Frogolocalypse 9y ago
What did any of that have to do with the NBN?
Khaine 9y ago
Actually to be really truthful, that program was driven by Kevin Rudd. Everyone at the Department of Environment was scared of the PM's advisors and did what they said. Peter Garret basically covered for Rudd

by i336_ 9y ago

flukus 9y ago

> was the driving force behind a home-insulation scheme that was found to be the cause of 224 house fires. House fires went down statistically. The absolute number of fires was higher because more homes were getting insulation, but fires per insulated home went down. The real cause is business efficiency, hiring cheaper workers and not training them properly. You can't hold the government responsible for every grunt a private business hires. You don't hear the current lot taking direct responsibility for the recent shooting in our offshore detention facilities. Edit - in hindsight it's a perfect example of how "fake news" isn't a recent problem.

i336_ 9y ago
>> was the driving force behind a home-insulation scheme that was found to be the cause of 224 house fires. > House fires went down statistically. The absolute number of fires was higher because more homes were getting insulation, but fires per insulated home went down. Oh. I didn't know that. So you mean this occurred after the installation...? > The real cause is business efficiency, hiring cheaper workers and not training them properly. You can't hold the government responsible for every grunt a private business hires. Absolutely, yeah. I was trying to get at that idea but didn't quite articulate it. (Thanks.) > You don't hear the current lot taking direct responsibility for the recent shooting in our offshore detention facilities. Indeed :/ (I have to admit I honestly just don't understand why the offshore detention system has to be the way that it is. But this is largely due to my ignorance of the various variables and difficulties of the situation.)
- flukus 9y ago
  The fires occur after the installation, 50% occur within 10 days of installation, here is a very long and detailed analysis (with some CSIRO analysis as well): https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/04/24/the-csiro-gets-hip-to-debunking-media-hysteria/ https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/04/24/the-csiro-g...
  - i336_ 9y ago
    Wow, this is great. Thanks for the link!
- Khaine 9y ago
  Yeah, people tried to argue that the fire risk was lower, but that its because in a large number of cases the insulation was not actually installed, or was installed so poorly that it didn't improve the R value and therefore unlikely to be a fire risk.

Frogolocalypse 9y ago

What did any of that have to do with the NBN?

Khaine 9y ago

Actually to be really truthful, that program was driven by Kevin Rudd. Everyone at the Department of Environment was scared of the PM's advisors and did what they said. Peter Garret basically covered for Rudd