The Prime Minister has not had a good summer. Transformed in the space of a month into a piñata, he has been much criticised. This is not good because in a democracy we are better served by prime ministers who are respected for their words and deeds.
Some free advice then. In an emergency, language counts. Accuracy, brevity and clarity count. Say something and say it clearly.
Don’t be aggressive; don’t be evasive; don’t be imprecise; don’t use the passive voice; don’t speak like this:
Journalist: Prime Minister, do you expect fire emergencies of this magnitude to become more common in the future with climate change.
Prime Minister: Look, we have covered that on a number of occasions now. There’ll be reviews that take place as you would expect and I’ve already indicated in response to questions that we’ll be working closely with state and territory authorities on how they are undertaken. The links and the implications here have been acknowledged.