Remember when Tony Abbott decided a knighthood for Prince Philip was overdue? It became a tipping point, emblematic of his disconnect with the electorate, his own party and events. Before the year was out, he’d lost the prime ministership, later reflecting it was an “injudicious appointment”.

Losing touch, politically, is an elusive phenomenon. Conditionally, you never quite know when it is happening. As a leader, your advisers and colleagues can sometimes actively prevent you from seeing it. But they’re among the first to tell you when it’s gone.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing the updated draft to the religious discrimination bill. Credit:SMH

There’s a hint of “injudicious” judgment in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s timing of the release of an updated draft religious discrimination bill. The biblical backdrop is hard to miss. A nation grappling with a crippling drought and a sky darkened by fires we are told are without determinable end.

The disconnect with public sentiment could not be clearer.