There are fears thousands of households may have been fitted with potentially deadly roof insulation under a federal government scheme.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett on Tuesday banned the use of metal foil insulation in the $3.7 billion rebate scheme, citing safety reasons.
Four workers have died installing the insulation, three of them being electrocuted.
Mr Garrett's decision comes after 37,000 homes have already had the foil insulation installed, with fears many could be unsafe, electrically charging the roof.
The program pays $1,200 per household to install insulation to cut electricity bills; most homes have been fitted with pink batts but some, particularly in Queensland, were fitted with foil.
It was a bad day for the government's environmental policies - Mr Garrett also announced a second audit into the troubled "Green Loans" scheme which offers cheap loans to green up homes.
Opposition parties seized on the changes to question Mr Garrett's competence.
Electricians are concerned that if foil insulation is not installed correctly then the roof can become electrically charged.
Malcolm Richards, CEO of Master Electricians Australia (MEA), said that based on safety audits carried out so far, there could be up to 460 "live" roofs which could be deadly.
Mr Garrett suggested any household with safety concerns about their insulation should contact an electrician.
"Safety of households and installers is an absolute priority for the program," he said.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said the insulation scheme was a debacle and the government should check every home to make sure it was safe.
It's the second shift from Mr Garrett on the pink batts program - back in November he slashed the rebate from $1,600 to $1,200 amid concerns some installers were rorting the scheme.
Turning to the Green Loans program, Mr Garrett has also had to make his second amendment to a troubled environmental scheme.
The scheme provides 360,000 households with a free sustainability assessment, after which they can access an interest-free loan of up to $10,000 to make green improvements.
Critics say too many assessors were trained up - just over 3,600 of them - leaving many without work.
There are also claims of rushed assessments and delays in accessing the call centre. Very few households - just 1,000 of them, with a further 1,700 applications in the pipeline - have taken up a loan.
Mr Garrett has already announced an external audit of how assessors were accredited. On Monday he announced a second external audit, into the scheme's contracts and procurement processes.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd admitted there were problems with the Green Loans scheme.
"Plainly there are (problems) and they need to be dealt with," he told reporters in Canberra.
"It's not perfect, there have been problems with implementation."
Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne said the minister was fixing the Green Loans scheme too late.
"The scheme is an excellent idea that has turned into an utter debacle through gross mismanagement by Peter Garrett's department," she said.
Mr Hunt pointed to problems with solar panels rebates, along with insulation and green loans.
"It's three strikes so far for Mr Garrett," he said.
"Mr Rudd must start to say how many strikes he will tolerate from his minister."
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