The following information was copied from http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2010/mr20100219.html
Significant Changes to Green Loans Program
The Government will help over an additional 600,000 Australian households tackle climate change through a re-designed and extended Green Loans program.
That is on top of the 360,000 assessments already available under the program, of which more than 270,000 have already been booked nationwide.
The re-design of the program will include:
- the discontinuation of the less popular loans component next month to provide for the significant boost to assessment availability;
- a new cap of 5000 assessors, allowing up to an extra 1200 trained assessors to contract with the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts;
- a weekly cap of 15,000 assessment bookings and a daily and weekly cap per assessor of three and five respectively to ensure greater quality and a more even distribution of work for assessors right around the nation;
- changed booking arrangements allowing only individual assessors to make bookings.
These new arrangements will apply to the end of 2010.
My Interpretation of the Above
- Lots more Assessments have been funded
- Assessors are limited to 5 assessments/week. This is not enough to live on considering expenses involved in insurance, advertising, travel, etc. I suspect (hope) this decision will be altered.
- No more Green Loans! I don’t know what the Hon Peter Garrett MP was thinking, but the Green Loans is what motivated most people to get an assessment. We need an alternative incentive that makes it easier for people to implement energy and water saving modifications to their homes.
Summary: I don’t see how the program can become successful as it stands, but I expect we will see changes in the near future. My advice to home owners is get your assessment done so you will be ready to take advantage of any new financial incentives immediately as they’re implemented.