I agree that ripping off the public in any way is despicable and should attract very severe punishment. However, as evidenced by the incredibly sloppy legislation on Job-Keeper introduced by the last government, it is clear that at least part of the problem is the poor way in which the laws are written in the first place. 

Unfortunately too when you have successive governments on both sides which create a hand-out rather than a self reliant and resilience culture it's not surprising that many people, especially the unscrupulous will pile in for whatever they can get.

The self-serving conduct of some politicians doesn't help either. It's called 'leadership' so others will follow. 

Don't hold your breath waiting for any prosecutions - has there been any charges laid over the pink batts rorting? 

Two words; rock, hard place. (well that's three so my credibility is shot). There are two groups here, the first is complaining that it's taking too long to get flood grants and the other is saying that authorities are not taking enough time to vet applicants properly. Whenever there is money being paid out with disasters; flood, bushfire, earthquake, drought, there will always be those who rort the system. Those in charge of the handouts will always be vilified for being too slow or too lax, they can't please everybody.

So very, very sick of rip off merchants and scammers who seem to abound these days.