Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he is disappointed in himself for not paying closer attention to the rollout of the government's bungled home insulation program.
Mr Rudd is also standing by embattled Environment Minister Peter Garrett, saying problems associated with the scheme were largely due to the failure of the compliance system that had been put in place.
"I'm disappointed in myself for not asking more questions," Mr Rudd told ABC Television on Thursday night.
"In the pace of events last year, it's easy in hindsight to say we should have asked more questions but we didn't have time, but I accept responsibility for that."
There have been four deaths and 93 house fires linked to the scheme.
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Mr Rudd refused to blame Mr Garrett for the safety problems that have plagued the program, pointing to a report by law firm Minter Ellison which has prompted allegations of incompetence on the part of the environment minister.
"The conclusion by Minter Ellison was that the strategies put in place by the minister were either effective or capable of tolerably managing the risk."
The prime minister said the compliance system that had been put in place to ensure the scheme was safe and those working in the industry were properly trained was not up to scratch.
"Plainly what has gone wrong is that those who were rorting the system, those who were shonky operators, were not picked up by the compliance mechanisms which were established.
"In the case of those installations where we've had a safety concern arise as a result we see evidence plainly of the system not having worked as it needed to."
