MP queries loan scheme to 'green' homes

A program that is supposed to offer cheap loans to green up 75,000 homes is in
limbo, the Australian Greens say.
Households are supposed to have access to low-interest loans of up to $10,000 for
green measures like solar panels, solar hot water heaters and energy-smart lighting.
Labor promised the greenhouse-busting scheme before the 2007 election.
But Greens senator Christine Milne says not one loan has been approved yet - and
she's blamed a software glitch.
Senator Milne said the software that was supposed to help the application and
assessment process had not worked.
"This important program has to be urgently fixed so that Australian householders can
access green loans and small businesses can get off the ground," she said.
In Senate question time, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said more than 17,300
householders had requested an assessment for the green loans, and 7,900 assessments
had been completed.
Senator Wong did not directly answer Senator Milne's question about how many loans
had been approved.
There had been some issues with the software, she said, and a new version had been
in use since mid-August.
The green loans scheme is supposed to cover 75,000 households over five years,
starting from July 1 this year.
It was scaled back from a Labor promise of $300 million to green up 200,000 homes.
A spokesman for Environment Minister Peter Garrett later said some applications for
green loans had been made, and were being assessed by the relevant banks and credit
unions.
The government did not approve the loans as that was up to the loans' financial
providers, the spokesman said.
Thirteen financial institutions have signed on to provide the green loans scheme -
the government subsidises the scheme.