PM tries to insulate Garrett from disaster

Peter Garrett. Photo / Kenny Rodger

The cynics were out in force yesterday as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rolled out his latest tightening of national security and the scary list of reasons for it.

The new terrorism white paper said Australia was under permanent and increasing threat and urgent measures were needed to protect it.

In Parliament, where the Opposition was gleefully preparing for question time, Rudd had something else in need of protection - his Environment Minister, Peter Garrett.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott and his troops have been relentlessly pursuing Garrett over his scandal-ridden subsidised home insulation programme, which has been linked to four deaths, caused more than 80 fires, has electrified at least 1000 roofs, and has been hit by a tsunami of scams.

They had no doubts why Rudd chose yesterday to release a white paper that was long overdue: to take the heat off Garrett.

The Government replied huffily that it had deferred the planned December release of the white paper to allow analysis of new developments such as the threat from Yemen.

The document was made public yesterday, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said, because it was ready. Garrett's woes had nothing to do with it, and besides, politicians and the Australian public were quite capable of thinking about two things at once.

The fact is that Garrett's head has been on the block for some time, and the axe could fall if the Government cannot contain the damage.

No Government wants to sack a minister because it hands the Opposition a stack of explosive ammunition. This is even more so in an election year.

The problem for Rudd is to decide when Garrett becomes too great a liability, and when keeping him is more harmful than saving face. The balance seems to be in Garrett's favour, provided there are no more political shocks from electrified homes.

The range of measures now in place will slowly turn the attack to a slow drip, and the public's attention span will do the rest.