Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s belief that in the midst of a crisis the best politics is no politics has served him well.
Labor’s switch to grievance politics, seeking to amass disaffected constituencies wherever it can find them, hasn’t.
The latest Newspoll numbers confirm this as Morrison continues to enjoy universal support.
To Labor’s frustration, this is support that is shared across the political spectrum.
So far he has kept his own show on the road by refusing to indulge the angry mob.
Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese remains unable to find a gap in the market.
But Morrison knows as well as anyone in the game that the politics can pivot swiftly.
The Victorian crisis had the potential to change the equation.
The depth of animosity toward the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been building for some weeks.
Morrison would have been acutely aware early on that Melburnians would eventually look to the federal government to save them from provincial incompetence.
So far Morrison has given enormous slack to Andrews.
His view remains that people just want politicians to be sensible.
But the Labor leader’s public denialism and early attempts to blame Morrison for the aged-care deaths, has forced the first pivot.
The Prime Minister knows he can’t leave any avenue open for the federal government to be blamed.
While he himself has remained above the fray, maintaining the consensus approach to which he is naturally disposed, the language has subtly shifted.
He now refers to it as the “Victorian wave” rather than a second wave.
And while he didn’t direct his Victorian Cabinet Minister to go on the offensive over Andrews’ quarantine stuff up, none of them would have received an angry call from the leader.
Dan Tehan, Josh Frydenberg, Michael Sukkar and Greg Hunt were genuinely channelling the anger from constituents calling in to their offices but they will have also been coming under pressure from frustrated Liberal party members to say something.
Then the second pivot.
Morrison will want to avoid a potential rebellion down the track from within the Liberal party base over the spending.
Again Morrison has been subtle but his Cabinet ministers not so much.
The new narrative is that the States now must start spending off their own balance sheets.
With half the private sector workforce in Victoria now stood down, it’s safe to assume that an end to the spending has not yet arrived.
Morrison is now making it clear that Andrews is going to have to wear this responsibility as well.
The Federal Government has done the heavy lifting and if there is to be more spending on the demand side, it will have to come from the states.
What the Newspoll shows is that Morrison continues to chart the right course, having inoculated himself from the Victorian rage.
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