No doubt Scott Morrison will be hoping visits to India and Japan over the next several weeks will shift attention away from a bad look over an ill-advised overseas holiday when Australia was on fire – literally.

It remains to be seen whether travel abroad in the service of the country – as opposed to himself – will help to reset the political debate, or whether an unpleasant aftertaste will endure.

Scott Marsh painted this mural of Scott Morrison on a wall in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale. Credit:AAP

Put simply, the Prime Minister needs to recalibrate after a jarring end to a political year that had begun promisingly following his “miracle’’ election victory in May. That promise is now in danger of being frittered away like the wafer-thin surplus.

Morrison’s principal vulnerability, apart from a sagging economy, has both a domestic and international dimension. It is one he would be wise to take more seriously than appears to be the case beyond the usual bromides about Australia’s inability to influence net global emissions.