Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown has condemned Kevin Rudd's decision to strip Peter Garrett of some of his ministerial powers, saying it will seriously weaken his ability to push for good environmental outcomes.
The Prime Minister's ministerial reshuffle demoting Mr Garrett over his role in the troubled home insulation program has put Greg Combet in charge of the rollout of the new program.
Mr Garrett, meanwhile will be minister for environment protection, heritage and the arts. Senator Brown says the Greens have real concerns that this development will have the environment suffer as a result and the prime minister should have created one department of energy and climate change.
"The Prime Minister should have gone further, and created a unified Ministry and Department of Energy and Climate Change, as the Greens called for in our censure motion this week", Brown said in a press release.
"Leaving non-renewable energy in Martin Ferguson's hands is a complete contradiction. (Minister for Resources and Energy)
The Australian newspaper called the demotion 'humiliating' for Garrett.
