Rudd insists he wasn't warned about safety risks in home insulation program
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd insists he would have allowed more time to ensure the failed home insulation program was safe if he had been warned of its deadly risks.
Speaking via video link to the Supreme Court, Mr Rudd faced a range of hypothetical questions about how his decisions might have differed if the public service or his ministers had raised safety concerns about the home insulation program.
The $2.7 billion program began in 2009 but was scrapped the next year following the deaths of four workers in New South Wales and Queensland.
Mr Rudd, who was prime minister during the scheme, gave evidence from New York as part of a class action from more than 140 businesses who are seeking about $150 million in damages from the federal government.
Asked if he was informed by the public service that the program carried risks to workers or households before it was launched, Mr Rudd said: “no, I was not.”
He said his handling of the matter would have been different if he was told the program needed more preparation time due to unacceptable safety risks.
“The first consideration I would have had would have been ‘get the safety matters resolved’,” he said.
The program was announced on February 3 in 2009 and launched in July.
Mr Rudd said there was an implicit assumption in all such decisions, including launching the scheme, that the public service had satisfied all health and occupational safety requirements before work began.
His evidence lasted about 45 minutes.
Mr Rudd told the court the program was originally designed to meet the dual goals of stimulating the economy after the global financial crisis and reducing carbon emissions.
Former federal treasury boss Ken Henry is due to give evidence next week.