Tony Abbott runs Australia with a backdrop of kitsch 1950s nostalgia, and with the appointment of Prince Philip as Australia's newest knight it is obvious the PM has missed the mark, writes Darrin Barnett.

When a small moment becomes indicative that the entire situation is now beyond repair, we say things have "jumped the shark."

The phrase comes from the hit series Happy Days when, in a tired and desperate fifth season, the cult character Fonzie was enlisted to jump over a shark on water skis.

From that point on, it was clear that there would be no redemption for the once mighty sitcom.

Much like Happy Days, Tony Abbott runs Australia with a backdrop of kitsch 1950s nostalgia. And with the appointment of Prince Philip as Australia's newest knight it is obvious beyond doubt that the PM has now jumped the shark.

Abbott's surprise decision in March last year to reinstate knights and dames - which sings to a part of his electoral base that would never contemplate voting anything other than conservative - left much of middle Australia confused at best, and hostile at worst.

Today's announcement doubles down on that sentiment. Like many Australians, when I found out Prince Philip had been selected for Australia's highest honour I had to check it wasn't from a satirical website.

The list of arguments against this giant, symbolic misstep is virtually endless.

Firstly, at a time when the Government is desperately trying to sell its "end to the age of entitlement" theme, handing our highest honour to the literal embodiment of entitlement seems monumentally misguided.

Secondly, if you are desperate to give a knighthood to a royal, as Mr Abbott must be, Prince Philip is nowhere near the most popular nor worthy on his list of candidates.

In my experience, most Australians like William and Kate, don't mind Queen Elizabeth, tolerate Charles, but have little time for the bumbling Philip.

The 93-year-old Duke of Edinburgh is probably best remembered in this country for his 2002 remark when he asked an Aboriginal man: "Do you still throw spears at each other?"

This offensive remark, of course, was hardly out of character. The Prince has form over a long period of time, across many countries and continents.

Some standout utterances are (with thanks to Britain's Mirror, which has been keeping a groaning archive of such things):

To the President of Nigeria, who was in national dress, in 2003: "You look like you're ready for bed!"

To the President of Nigeria, who was in national dress, in 2003: "You look like you're ready for bed!" To deaf children by steel band, in 2000: "Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you are deaf."

To deaf children by steel band, in 2000: "Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you are deaf." To a female solicitor, 1987: "I thought it was against the law for a woman to solicit."

To a female solicitor, 1987: "I thought it was against the law for a woman to solicit." On the 1981 recession: "A few years ago, everybody was saying we must have more leisure, everyone's working too much. Now everybody's got more leisure time they're complaining they're unemployed. People don't seem to make up their minds what they want."

Thirdly, why sully the announcement of the honour bestowed upon former Defence Force chief Angus Houston?

Sir Angus is a great choice. Enormously respected by all in addition to a long period of civic service.

Why lump him in with Prince Philip?

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten must surely not believe his luck. With obvious self-restraint, Mr Shorten nevertheless noted today the Prime Minister appears to be in a time warp.

"It's outside the mainstream, I think, of Australian thinking to have done this," he said.

Mr Shorten added that a Labor government would probably end the announcement of knights and dames.

Yet far more worrying for Mr Abbott must surely be the views of senior Liberal political advisor Grahame Morris, one of former PM John Howard's closest personal friends.

Mr Morris tweeted today:

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Mr Howard, of course, never dreamt of using his robust reserves of political capital to reintroduce knights and dames, and noted that Mr Abbott's move last year was "anachronistic". Mr Morris's tweet today is probably fairly indicative of the former PM's general feeling.

In fact, you have to search pretty hard to find anyone who is in favour of today's announcement. Then again, there's always the reliable Professor David Flint, national convener of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.

"I think it's a worthy reward, he's had a very long connection with this country," Professor Flint said.

"We have a tradition of handing awards to people from other countries and I see nothing wrong with awarding it to a Greek who became an Englishman who worked very hard to keep us free in the Second World War and has made a major contribution to us without being paid anything."

Abbott probably sees our constitutional monarchy as sacrosanct, and that's a fair enough personal view.

Yet how important must he see Prince Philip's knighthood to stick his neck out this far?

As another conservative commentator, Chris Kenny, noted succinctly on Twitter:

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As Kenny notes, how can there be no one in the PM's office capable of offering such easily digestible advice?

Darrin Barnett is a former Canberra Press Gallery journalist and press secretary to prime minister Julia Gillard. He is now a fellow of the McKell Institute.