Political correspondent Steve Lewis says the parents of one of the failed home insulation scheme victims have accused PM Kevin Rudd of putting the election ahead of his personal apology to the victims' families.
Matthew Fuller, with his partner Monique Pridmore, was electrocuted while installing foil insulation in a Brisbane house. Monique suffered horrific burns to her leg on the same job. Source: Supplied
THE parents of a young man killed while working on the deadly $2 billion home-insulation scheme have accused Kevin Rudd of putting the election ahead of meeting the families affected by the botched program.
In a dramatic campaign intervention, Kevin and Christine Fuller told the Prime Minister that "your Home-Insulation Program took away the most valuable thing in our lives".
"Your HIP killed our only son, Matthew James Fuller and with him went all of our dreams for the future," the Queensland couple said in a heartfelt letter to Mr Rudd.
Matthew Fuller was one of four installers killed while working on the Government-sponsored scheme, introduced in 2009 as part of Labor's $42 billion economic stimulus.
Four years later, his grieving parents are demanding Mr Rudd "urgently commence" a full judicial inquiry to ensure that future programs are "safe and effective".
They are also angry that Mr Rudd has failed to respond to their July 20 letter - despite a promise, in early July, that he would meet with the grieving families.
"That was well over a month ago and he has not been able to fit it in to his busy campaigning schedule, or to make it make it any sort of priority to have any meeting with the families," Mr Fuller said.
Ms Fuller told The Courier-Mail that she and her husband were still waiting to meet Mr Rudd.
"We have had no meeting with PM and there is no meeting scheduled," she said.
"I guess he's too busy.
"The four families are obviously not a priority."
Tony Abbott has promised to immediately announce a "full judicial inquiry" into the botched program if the Coalition wins the election.
The Opposition Leader has also promised to ensure that the "mistakes that led to these deaths can be fully investigated and analysed".
A spokesman for Mr Rudd said the Prime Minister "has offered a very heartfelt personal apology" and said that he wants to meet with the families in person.
The spokesman also said the PM's office had been in touch with three of the families - including the Fuller's - to try and arrange a meeting.
But Mr Fuller remains unimpressed and said he had "hoped that the PM would have responded promptly and that I was not put in a position where I feel I have to bear my soul to the public".
And in further bad news for Team Rudd, the Government is also facing a class action by around 65 companies who claim they have lost up to $100 million as a result of the botched program.
Four young men - three in Queensland and one in NSW - lost their lives as a result of the bungled home-insulation scheme.
More than 200 home fires were also linked to the program which has been the subject of numerous inquiries, including a damning Queensland coroner's report.
Queensland coroner Michael Barnes said the scheme had been "rushed" and its dangers "should have been foreseen''.
Matthew Fuller, 25, Rueben Barnes, 16, and Mitchell Sweeney, 22, were electrocuted just months apart while installing insulation in Queensland homes under the federal scheme.
In their letter, the Fuller's ask Mr Rudd to "urgently commence a full judicial inquiry into the HIP including all of the circumstances that led to four deaths, many serious injuries, well over one hundred fires, thousands of people being unemployed and the waste of more than $2 billion of Australian taxpayers' money".
Mr Fuller accused Mr Rudd of a "knee jerk reaction to the media" when he publicly promised to meet with each of the four families to apologise in private.
This followed the Queensland coroner's report which was limited in its terms of reference.
The families want a full judicial inquiry with powers to compel important witnesses - including federal public servants.
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