Watching the Prime Minister walk away from Zoey McDermott – the Cobargo woman whose hand he picked up and shook, as though it were some malfunctioning electronic device – I understood what had happened. It wasn’t that he had no heart. He had simply switched onto political autopilot. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video This is the mode that most politicians inhabit, most of the time. There is a reason for this. It is impossible to connect, either actually or imaginatively, with every one of the people you govern. The mind must find some way to comprehend the scale of the task, and that involves reducing complexities – including, sometimes, the infinitely complex experiences of individuals – to certain formulas. Loading Of course these formulas are “political”. The practice of politics will always lie at the border between what the facts demand and what citizens demand. But at some point in recent decades that border shifted. A type of glamour attached itself to being “good at politics”, a different thing from being “good at governing”. Some strategists will tell you they watch the news with the sound off, because only appearances matter.

When Morrison’s office kept his Hawaiian jaunt secret, that was about appearances. When McDermott said Morrison “just wanted photos”, what happened next suggests she was right. When he saw the photo opportunity turning bad he walked on – political autopilot. Illustration: Simon Bosch Credit: To blame Morrison entirely is to miss the point. He is responding to lessons learnt. When needles were found in strawberries, he did three trivial things. He slightly redefined the crime, announced the penalty would be increased from 10 years to 15, and recorded a video. Instead of considering whether these were the actions of a strong leader, the more facile question was asked and answered by influential sections of the media: “Do these look like the actions of a strong leader?" If enough people talk about politics as a game – and most of us do, at least sometimes, these days – we shouldn’t be surprised when our leaders treat it that way. Zoey McDermott refuses to shake the hand of the Prime Minister during his visit to Cobargo. Credit:Nine News

And so we should not be shocked by the decision to release a Liberal Party ad on Saturday promoting the government’s response to the bushfires. Disgusted, yes – it is disgusting. But it is predictable. There are two central facts in comprehending Morrison’s behaviour at this moment. First: over half his prime ministership has been spent running for election, campaigning not governing. Second: he won that election. Loading One way of thinking about Morrison’s current difficulties is that his usual formulas are failing him. Political calculations are a little like many scientific formulas. They don’t predict the world precisely – just closely enough to be correct most of the time. In extreme cases, they fail. This is an extreme case. The world is showing itself, and the game of politics is not working as it usually does. An interesting question is whether Morrison any longer recognises the difference between the two. In 2018, one person with experience of Morrison told me their impression that “behind the scenes it’s all a game – we’re all just in a game”. When asked about people’s anger, Morrison has explained it by saying that people are tired and emotional. Does he refuse to admit the government might have done something wrong because that is against the rules of the game – never admit blame – or because he genuinely believes the government has done everything right? The question is interesting – but irrelevant. Trying to decipher political reasoning can be enlightening, but too often it operates as excuse. "He’s not actually like that – it’s just a tactic." And so, because we are all so awfully savvy, we dismiss terrible things – race-baiting, say – as political tools, just part of the game, not reflections of the person or government beneath.