I am beginning to suspect the Morrison government is using the Australian public to conduct a giant experiment in exposure therapy, whereby the phobic patient is given close contact to the thing that initially disgusts or scares them – spiders, public speaking, or, say ... awarding $100 million in sports grants despite the apparent conflict of interests that no one tried very hard to conceal from the public.

Over repeated exposures to their aversion, taxpayers will adapt and become less reactive, purely as a survival mechanism. Much in the same way that catastrophic fish kills used to be a source of apocalyptic horror, but have now been downgraded to a minor story which must get in line behind carbonised koalas, tragic property loss, and the deaths of front-line bushfire heroes.

On Friday it rained red dust in Sydney. My first thought was, oh well, at least it’s not so smoky that my four-year-old leaves the house in the morning saying "It smells like barbecues!" as she did over December. Low expectations are the key to a happy life.

Soon we will be inured to shamelessness so great we will be shrugging instead of gasping. We will turn the page, stifling a yawn, as more and more stories emerge of the apparent impropriety with which millions of our dollars were channelled to favoured sports clubs by a government seeking re-election.