Government Makes Changes To Green Loans Scheme
ABSA WELCOMES GREEN LOAN ANNOUNCEMENT
The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA) has welcomed a number of changes to the Green Loans Program announced today by the Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Mr Garrett.
ABSA Chairman Wayne Floyd said today that many of the changes were in line with the organisation’s representations to government.
ABSA is the accrediting body for assessors under the Household Sustainability Assessment Scheme. Householders applied for a Green Loan after having their home assessed by ABSA members, who must have completed a training course, and obtained the required insurance cover and Police check.
“Changes such as the extra 600,000 assessments and weekly caps on assessment bookings are welcome. The announcement of additional work for assessors under the Green Start program in 2011 should result in a continuation of work for our members.
“These are all positive moves for the sustainability industry and will help to ensure that our members can be more confident about their long term future,” he said.
However, Mr Floyd said the cap of 5,000 assessors working on the Green Loans Program would create problems. There are currently about 7,000 member assessors accredited by ABSA with a further 2,000 applications being processed.
“We don’t know yet how the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA), which runs this scheme, will determine which of our members will make the cut and who will lose out.
“This is particularly frustrating as ABSA warned the Department last August that the number of people seeking accreditation as assessors was far higher than anticipated and that there would be too many assessors for the 360,000 assessments originally budgeted for.
There was also no mention in the announcement of quality control or auditing, issues which ABSA would be vigorously pursuing with the Department.
“ABSA will continue to have discussions with government to ensure the long term viability of the sustainability industry” Mr Floyd said.
Media inquiries: Rod Frail, Australian Public Affairs ph: 0413 98 98 97
Source: http://www.hsas.net.au/