Dear Steele,

Six lives lost is shocking. And no excuses whould be
tolerated. And investigation is warranted and must
be made. The sooner the better. Action is needed not
talk and excuses.

apologies for the typos.

"It wasn't the government sector which installed the pink batts it was the private."

And Rudd was warned that the private sector wasn't equipped to install the batts at the rates he wanted. And he ignored that. And then he ignored the fact that a bunch of fly-by-night operations were popping up as he'd been warned would happen and that unskilled workers were being exposed to risks just to fulfil his economic fantasies. And then people died and Rudd, defender of the workers that he was, ran for cover.

That's why there was a RC. When we see equivalent governmental disregard for their victims, and disregard for clear warnings, then you can make these utterly fatuous comparisons between the two.

Meanwhile Reagan's insights remain spot on...""The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

mhaze,

So what do you suggest be done?

Nothing?

I like what another American President said -

"The buck stops here!

"So what do you suggest be done?

Nothing?"

No not nothing. Have an enquiry if you want. Have two or three. But an RC is over the top. An expensive way to find out what we already know, but a way for poliies to strut and posture.

A RC to find out why government deliberately ignored warnings of potential deaths from batt installation in the name of political advantage is one thing. And as I said, if we find there were warnings of impending doom from the Robodebt issue, then fine, have an RC and send a few bureaucrats to gaol....Pour encourager les autres.

But having an enquiry into why a government programme failed is like having an enquiry into why the sun rose today. It's inevitable.

So again have the enquiry, find out why it all went pear-shaped. But equally inevitably, all the lessons will be forgotten.

In a better world an enquiry or an event like this would cause people to stop and wonder if getting the government involved is the best idea. But the very people who want these enquiires are the very same who'll be the quickest to forget whatever lessons come from it.

If I thought an RC or any other type of inquisition might lead to better more circumspect decisions latter, I'd be all for it. But what it will lead to is just more government, more people overseeing other people who are overseeing people who screwed up the last time.

Remember that the whole Robodebt programme is an admission that the welfare systems failed by overpaying some people. So to fix a failed system, they introduce an new (inevitably) failed system . And now we're gunna have an enquiry to work out what systems we should implement to fix the failed system that was implemented to fix a failed system.

Turtles all the way down... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

Well done mhaze;

"Indeed if we ever find a government programme or department that isn't a disaster we should hold a Royal Commission into it to find out what went right."

- I think there's never been a truer word said.