After one of the ugliest political weeks in recent memory, it’s still not clear what Scott Morrison’s agenda is | Katharine Murphy

Back in the Howard era, we used to talk about dog whistles. The point about dog whistles is they are subtle things. The sound is supposed to be inaudible to humans.

Scott Morrison holds power in a much noisier era. Everybody shouts, the prime minister loudest of all. There was nothing subtle or inaudible about the penultimate sitting week of the current parliament. It was one of the ugliest political weeks in recent memory.

The short version of this story is Morrison weaponised national security. The prime minister knows a significant chunk of voters don't yet have a settled view about Anthony Albanese, so, generously, he filled in some blanks.

Albanese was weak. He was sneaky. He was China's candidate for the prime ministership, which of course made him deeply suspect.

Morrison was very obviously trying to outrun the leaks and the disaster of the previous week. Trying to stay one step ahead of conservatives furious about his failure to deliver the religious discrimination package. Trying to keep level pegging with Peter Dutton, who is auditioning for the top job. Most of all, trying to capture the attention of disengaged voters who determine the outcome of elections, and consume their politics in broad brush strokes. Trying, like a boss.

As Jenny Morrison shared about her husband on last Sunday's 60 Minutes program, the prime minister is very task orientated. His current task orientation is twofold: don't die wondering about whether you can pull off the second coming, and don't worry too much about what it might cost.

If you were watching the week, you'll already know Morrison's pre-campaign framing of Albanese and Labor was about as subtle as a meat axe. It was also reckless and destructive enough to trigger rare public pushback from Canberra's national security establishment - both past and present.