The first act in a theatre of the absurd was already underway before the traditional church service thanks to the ALP's decision to recalibrate its support for Kerryn Phelps's "medivac bill".

What began as an attempt to establish a principle that would apply to all asylum seekers, present and future, on Manus and Nauru, became a ticket-of-leave scheme to give some current detainees better access to mainland medical treatment.

It was an unexpected intervention given Labor had been happy to support the original proposal in its entirety in the Senate last December.

The reason? A belated recognition Labor would be leaving itself open to claims it was going soft on border security if it didn't impose serious caveats.

As a result a piece of legislation most observers had expected to be passed within hours of parliament resuming was suddenly in doubt.

Then there was the question of whether or not a heavily amended version of "medivac" would be passed in the Senate.

Instead of seizing the opportunity to present a moment of near national unity in which independents, Greens, the ALP and even some Coalition defectors stood together in the name of humanity, Shorten opted for a "politics as usual" approach.

And, to top it off, the backflip proved a total waste of time.

Morrison, whose big claim to fame since the first iteration of this government

was elected in 2013 is that he "stopped the boats", was never going to let the facts, or the nuances, get in the way of a good story.

"Stop the boats" worked for Howard in 2001. It worked for Abbott in 2013. Why wouldn't it work again in 2019?

Anything was better than having to talk about climate change, energy policy, the submarine debacle and the revolving door on the Lodge.

After proclaiming that if boats did not arrive it would be because of the Coalition's stewardship and if they did it would be on Shorten's head, Morrison began to spin.

His refusal to acknowledge medivac had been seriously nobbled, or to say publicly it would only apply to detainees already on the islands, left nobody in any doubt he was hoping for another "Tampa".

Has there even been a time, apart from the dark days of March 1942 when John Curtin was praying for the safe arrival of the convoy returning the 7th Division from the Middle East, a serving Prime Minister has been so visibly desperate for his ship come in?

And, just when it was hard to imagine a more unedifying spectacle than the nation's leader hoping against hope for a boat load of refugees to demonise, Pauline Hanson, James Ashby and One Nation refugee, and now UAP stalwart, Brian Burston, entered from stage left.

What began with an exchange of harassment claims ended in fisticuffs outside the Great Hall and blood smeared on Hanson's office door.

How much more of this childish, self-serving absurdity are we going to have put up with before the ides of May? It's definitely time to start over.