Scott Morrison had his Trump Lite moment when he stared blankly at the Australian people and told them that an internal report – which they were not allowed to see – had found $100 million in sports grants were legitimate. It said much about the lack of transparency that is at the heart Australian politics and its parlous state.

Trump lite? Scott Morrison was less than transparent with the Australian people. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Today I am proposing a six-point clean-up of politics and government in Australia. But first, a detour to Donald Trump.

“Read the transcript,” the US President said, ad nauseam, in his defence against impeachment, concerning his telephone call with the Ukrainian President and the revelation that he withheld military assistance until the Ukrainians launched an inquiry into his potential Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Too bad the transcript he urged all to read wasn’t actually a verbatim transcript but a self-serving, obfuscating summary.

Scott Morrison read selectively from the report by Phil Gaetjens, his former fixer and now secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, on the sports grants affair. Gaetjens found – no surprise – that the then sports minister, Bridget McKenzie, had a clear conflict of interest in failing to declare her membership of a clay-shooting club to which she made a grant.