Outgoing NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard (Image: AAP/Bianca De Marchi)

There was so much buck-passing, bucket-tipping, mansplaining, shade-throwing and outright gibberish in public political performances from Sydney to Canberra yesterday it’s hard to know who was worst and where to begin.

Stupidity, arrogance and entitlement, perhaps.

No, it’s not the PM’s latest slogan, although that was unveiled yesterday — “Not the Australian way” — but more on that later. It was what NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard used during the morning COVID press conference to explain why the Berejiklian government was not locking down harder as cases spiral out of control for yet another record day.

“You can’t legislate against stupidity, arrogance and entitlement,” Hazzard postured.

“Perhaps not, but obviously you can elect it,” tweeted one Aaron Smith, summing up the general reaction on Twitter.

The morning NSW COVID update deteriorates daily in line with the escalating case numbers, and the prickly premier so exasperated the press yesterday that one reporter openly criticised her “glib answers”.

There were even signs of strain with chief medical officer Kerry Chant over the whole issue of tougher lockdowns — which was about to get a whole lot worse as the day progressed.

But first a message from the prime minister.

After Glib Gladys and Health Hazzard blamed the feds for, among other things, aged care vaccination problems, Scott Morrison popped up in Canberra with his own press conference the minute they had scurried away from theirs. It seemed to be called to respond to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change but Morrison began with a swipe back at the wavering Berejiklian government not to “squander” the lockdown gains.

What then followed was 30 minutes of snarky drivel — a litany of unconnected thought bubbles and uncatchy phrases from “technology not taxes”, “Australia is part of the solution”, and even “we have a plan” — which of course he doesn’t.

There was a strange reference to a woman waving to him earlier before he got to the aforementioned “not the Australian way” which was referring not to the IPCC report but to Extinction Rebellion graffitists.

Federal Environment Minister Angus Taylor also used the new “not the Australian way” to end his unmemorable contribution to the whole inexplicable charade.

On to federal Parliament where George Christensen made his latest threats to public safety, but it was actually Hazzard and Chant in the NSW Parliament at day’s end that warranted the Worst On Ground award.

Called before an inquiry into the state government’s COVID response, Chant’s attempts to answer professionally were constantly cut off by Hazzard who at one point declared to the committee: “It is not up to you to decide who will answer questions. I am the minister. I will answer.”

A mask could not hide Chant’s discomfort which brought up memories of the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s recent humiliation by the awful Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.

At least Chant tried to speak — but she had no chance against hectoring Hazzard.

“Gawd that Hazzard is a right prick, isn’t he?” asked another tweeter — obviously from Victoria.

“Stupid, arrogant, entitled” will do until we see today’s performance.