Tony Abbott's schoolboy instinct to smirk and wink at the mention of phone sex should pale in comparison to how he runs the country. But alas, that's not the case, writes Jonathan Green.

OK, so this is getting somewhere way beyond weird.

In the tumultuous, smoking and chaotic wake of "winkgate", the distortions caused by the speed and superficiality of modern political life are revealed.

We can marvel at how a momentary impression, a facial gesture that spanned less than a second, can be extrapolated to form a quick sum total of personality ... and can then be turned to fuel a comprehensive and damning political critique.

It might border on the unfashionable, but the argument could be made that a Prime Minister might well fall into that behavioural sub-category known to Sarah Hansen-Young, Tracey Spicer and who knows how many others as "creep", but still be a politician capable of efficiently administering a parliament and an economy.

In fact there are probably no end of nice guys, lovely fellows, entirely reconstructed men of sound feminist instinct, who might make a hash of both and lead us all somewhere closer to ruin.

So let's shift the argument, shall we.

It might suit the sugary, elevated pulse of social media to deduce political and budgetary incompetence from the momentary dipping of an eyelid, but on quiet, sober reflection it hardly seems a compelling argument. Character is not competence, even if we can accurately deduce character from the distorting microcosm of the video replay; which is moot.

Here, watch it again:

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It's unflattering. Ugly. A reasonable indicator of either a lack of empathy or, perhaps worse, the sort of situational awareness that a professional politician might be expected to exhibit in a camera equipped broadcast studio. Was there more to the wink than that? Enough material to clog a good 24 hours of the news cycle?

Here's one headline: "Australian PM winks as pensioner says she works on phone sex line to make ends meet - video."

Here's an alternative: "Prime minister winks, prosecution of complex program of economic reform derailed."

And an argument on competence, fairness and simple economic effectiveness needs to be had in the wake of what our Government has set before us in this past fortnight. There is an abundance of material in the Abbott/Hockey budget, and in the Government's broader political performance, to fuel, anger and satisfy the critics.

But disturbingly, for what it says about the quality of our political engagement, there's every chance that if anything brings Abbott to book it will not be the cold calculation in the withdrawal of benefits from young jobless Australians for six months on and six months off, but rather his schoolboy instinct to smirk and wink at the mention of phone sex.

Neither is edifying, but only one really matters, though you wouldn't come to that conclusion from the extent of the post-wink fuss.

Three news events jockeyed for attention yesterday in the Hockey budget aftermath. The Treasurer himself gave a reasoned, not altogether charmless and well-considered contribution to a lunch organised by the Australian Council of Social Service, the shadow treasurer gave his budget reply appearance at the National Press Club, and the Prime Minister winked at a radio presenter when taking a call from a disabled, sex-working grandmother.

And which warrants breathless national captivation?

As it was we couldn't see for winking ... not even to examine the detail in that same interview with ABC radio's Jon Faine, an interview in which Abbott continued the recent pattern of factual fumbling that has dogged his budget sales mission, this time confusing the date from which tertiary students might feel the pinch of higher fees. Only if you start your studies in 2016, the PM told Faine.

The budget papers tell a different story. He fluffed his lines on commercial radio yesterday morning too, telling 3AW's Neil Mitchell that an average person would only pay the $7 GP co-payment fee 10 times before being bulk billed. The budget sets no such limit.

Of course Abbott should be better than the guy who winks lasciviously, should be better than "shit happens", "baddies and baddies" and goodness knows what else, but just now he is the man leading this country through a comprehensive readjustment of its economic priorities, a quietly comprehensive rephrasing of its sense of fairness and obligation.

The reasoning in choosing this course is entirely debatable. The effectiveness of the policy settings chosen are likewise something worthy of earnest, long and detailed consideration, perhaps even informed public debate.

Or we can set all that to one side and consider what might be implied when the prime minister winks inappropriately.

The reaction probably has a lot to do with the fact that not many Australians are all that fond of Abbott, wink or no wink. If recent polling is a guide many Australians hold a view of the man that might not be shifted much by the revelation that he smirks at the mention of phone sex and disability.

Would we have been more forgiving if Abbott had been more of a Bob Hawke, a likeable, roguish and popular character?

It might also be worth reflecting on what has changed in politics since Hawke consummated his love affair with the Australian people, or even since John Howard seduced the battlers to the conservative banner. Worth reflecting too on our constant demand for naturalness and simple human sincerity in politics ... and wondering at how we respond when we get even so much as a glimpse.

We're schooled in rapid and almost hysterical response now, primed to fits of Pavlovian slobber by a media world that sieves public life for any fumble or unfortunate gesture. In the process it reduces our political conversation to level pegging with Kardashian celebrity.

So the Treasurer danced on budget night - does that change the substance of what he read at the despatch box? Which has a greater bearing on the country's future and fortunes?

So the Prime Minister winked like a leering adolescent, does that suddenly derail a coldly calculated fiscal strategy? Or does it just distract us from what has true substance?

By one account our Government is quietly unpicking the social compact, by another it's grappling manfully with a budget in chronic decline. Either version might be worth taking seriously ... nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Know what I mean?

Jonathan Green hosts Sunday Extra on Radio National and is the former editor of The Drum. View his full profile here.