The NSW government falls uncomfortably silent as the spotlight shifts to its own woes

Senior ministers have also been strangely muted on the subject. On all subjects, really.

Labor will have ample ammunition when it goes to the polls: it can tell voters that after more than a decade in power the NSW government has big last-days-of-Rome energy.

Lately the stones have been coming thick and fast. The John Barilaro saga, which has been referred to Icac but is not subject to an inquiry, is a slow-moving car crash from which the government cannot extricate itself.

On Wednesday night Perrottet will fly out on a 10-day trade trip to Japan, South Korea and India. It should be a series of photo opportunities with the premier signing MOUs.

No points for guessing what the travelling media will want to talk about instead.

That may well turn out to be true, but there is no doubt that less than a year out from the next election the Perrottet government has been spending a lot of time behind the parapet.