However, the just completed royal commission into the botched home insulation program has revealed far more. It has revealed how the "undue haste" of politics unnecessarily cost the lives of four young men, caused 224 house fires and sent 120 businesses to the wall in just one year.

Intoxicated by Kevin Rudd's belief that Labor could spend its way clear of the global financial crisis, all reasonable safeguards and training were ignored in the pursuit of political expediency.

The comments by commissioner Ian Hanger should be a warning to governments at all levels: "The Australian government conceived of, devised and designed and implemented a program that enabled very large numbers of inexperienced workers - often engaged by unscrupulous and avaricious employers or head contractors, who were themselves inexperienced with insulation installation - to undertake potentially dangerous work."

To develop a plan to insulate more than two million homes from the drawing board to public release in just two weeks should have alarmed any thinking adult, much less government ministers.

A total of 19 public servants received potentially adverse findings from the commissioner and their roles will be further scrutinised but it seems that Rudd and ministers Peter Garrett and Mark Arbib have emerged with just a few battle scars.

Yes, it would be nice to think that public servants would stand up to politicians, but under the blow torch of political pressure they are only human.

Mr Arbib seems most at fault for putting the "political risk" of not rolling out the program ahead of safety and training but he too was serving the demands of a driven leader and trying to hold on to his job.

The disgrace in all of this is that Labor, the party formed to protect workers, abandoned these young men for political power and expediency.