At the very least Mr Hockey’s behaviour created a potential conflict of interest which he should have avoided. The Helloworld employee involved said his colleagues felt ‘‘uncomfortable’’ about the meeting.

Unfortunately, without knowing all the details, it is very hard to assess if any rules were broken. Many questions remain unanswered. What exactly did Mr Hockey disclose to whom and when? When did he, for instance, disclose that he was a shareholder in Helloworld? Was Mr Hockey in favour of the decision to put the contract out for tender? At about the same time, Helloworld paid for Finance Minister Mathias Cormann’s family to fly to Singapore and Senator Cormann forgot to disclose it. Did Mr Hockey, Mr Cormann and Mr Burnes discuss the tender?

Mr Hockey must have known how sensitive public contracts can be. Former NSW ALP minister Eddie Obeid is now in jail for the crime of misconduct in public office, because he lobbied for the extension of licences for cafes at Circular Quay controlled by his family without disclosing that interest to public servants handling the negotiations.

Labor is considering recalling Mr Hockey if it wins office. His behaviour has certainly done nothing to improve his chances of keeping the job.

The good news for Mr Hockey is that he faces little chance of the sort of forensic grilling Mr Obeid faced in front of the NSW Independent Commission of Corruption.