Scott Morrison is no changed man. And he is not going anywhere, he did it all for us and we seemed to have made him do it.
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There may have been an election Mr Morrison resoundingly did not win and a rejection of what he and his government stood for, but faced with serious criticism - from his own people - of his power play in secretly taking on five portfolios the former prime minister has dug in. And dug in deep.
At a testing hour-long press conference on Wednesday, in which he claimed he wanted nothing more than to be a "quiet Australian from the Shire," the self-described bulldozer was defiant, defensive and delusional.
"I did what I thought was necessary," he stated.
Despite howls over secrecy, disregarding the Westminster system of government and drawing power to himself, Mr Morrison made it clear he believes he has done nothing wrong and was acting in the "national interest" to no personal advantage.
"The fact that ministers were unaware of these things is actually proof of my lack of interference or intervention in any of their activities," he said.
"I believe it was a prudent and responsible action in the middle of the crisis, to have these emergency powers in place."
Why so secret? No one could understand, but him - the prime minister in a pandemic time likened to a "raging tempest" - as there was a "possibility of this being misinterpreted."
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Only he was prime minister in a pandemic time likened to a "raging tempest" and we have the benefit of hindsight.
He talked about the burden of the expectations of his responsibilities by the media and the then-Labor opposition, "constantly telling me that I was responsible for everything, even the actions of state premiers and decisions that they were taking."
So the leap is, he became responsible for virtually everything.
But, "thank goodness that was not necessary."
"They were put in there as a safeguard, as a break-glass in case of emergency and as a result. And as a result, thankfully, we didn't need to break the glass and as a result I didn't need to trouble any of those ministers," Mr Morrison said.
Except he did use the powers one time over the plans for the PEP-11 offshore gas exploration bid.
"I'd made the decision as prime minister and that meant I had to have been able to do that with an authority to do that under that act," he explained.
And "trouble" the ministers? Some are furious.
They got an apology for "any offence", but Mr Morrison still felt he did the right thing and any criticism of the Governor-General for his role is "egregious".
"I accept that you may not accept my explanation, and I accept that there may be many out there who don't, but I've given that explanation," he declared.
Further, he did not want to "undermine the confidence of ministers in the performance of their duties" so did not tell them, but - in an apparent contradiction - assumed there had been a conversation between the offices, in the case of the Finance ministry.
"All the portfolios that I sought to have these authorities put in place, they were portfolio areas where ministers could exercise unilateral decisions without reference to cabinet," he said.
He said he would have told colleagues IF he used the powers, but we will never know.
Cabinet colleagues, including those affected, did not know. Neither did the heads of affected departments and agencies like ASIO, but Mr Morrison confirmed that people in his office and the Department of Prime Minister of Cabinet were aware.
And he confirmed that the two News Corp journalists who wrote the book which opened all this up were told in real time.
Oops.
The press conference appears to have done Mr Morrison harm than good.
And it was made crystal-clear Mr Morrison is going to keep his Cook electorate hanging and make a decision about his future at an "appropriate time".
It is a question of what is appropriate.