I know 'cheap and nasty' is a cliche. But there is nothing financially 'cheap' about the insulation scheme. There is no lacking in financial wastage libido. For example, the Couriermail 25 March 2010 reported:
"UP to $58 million of taxpayers' funds may have been spent on substandard Chinese insulation that failed its performance claims, new figures suggest.
An Australian insulation industry body has told a Senate inquiry into the Rudd Government's insulation debacle that up to 35,200 homes could have Chinese batts in their roofs which failed thermal tests.
Yesterday's Senate hearing in Canberra also heard the number of roof fires linked to the bungled
$2.45 billion scheme has reached 120, including 19 in Queensland."
I am not sure whether the above budget figure includes the cost of audit (about $50m), any compensation and cost of removal of the batts (up to $450m by an insulation association). This is textbook financial kamikaze on behalf of indulgent Australians. If Labor contributed necessary GDP growth during the GFC by fiscal laxity, it should at least be doing it without literally human sacrifice through fire and electrocution.