The actions of the Morrison government over the past week can only be described as an omnishambles. There have been so many snafus that at least one senior press gallery journalist had to refer to written notes just to remember them all in a live interview. Such a series of missteps could not have been scripted without straining credulity, but let’s look at a sample.

Just a day after Background Briefing revealed the NSW Young Nationals had been infiltrated by self-described fascists and neo-Nazis, the office of the premier law officer of Australia, the Attorney-General, instructed government senators to support a motion from Australia’s chief xenophobic party that ‘it’s OK to be white’ – a white supremacist slogan. It was explained away as an "administrative error" and the government recommitted the vote, but the damage was done. At best, the government proved itself incompetent, filled with senators who vote blindly without knowing what they are voting on and, at worst, the government proved itself comfortable dancing to One Nation’s tune.

Next, the Liberal National Coalition government floated the idea of moving Australia’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a naked appeal to Jewish voters in Wentworth. This move threatened a free trade agreement with Indonesia, whose Foreign Minister gave our Foreign Minister a bollocking in a series of messages, which then leaked to the media. It was then reported that ASIO had advised the government against moving the embassy, citing concerns that it could incite violence, advice that also leaked to the media. The electorate is resigned to a certain amount of pork barrelling at election time, but to ignore ASIO advice and float changes to bipartisan foreign policy that angers allies, that could incite violence and that puts trade at risk is cynical politics at its worst.

Climate change is a huge issue for voters in Wentworth, much bigger than the question of where Australia’s embassy is situated in Israel. Yet beleaguered Environment Minister Melissa Price found time this week to insult the former President of Kiribati and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Anote Tong, who is in Australia to talk about the threat climate change poses to the Pacific, to advocate for a global moratorium on new coal mines and to appeal to Australia for greater action.

Kiribati is already feeling the effects of climate change and Mr Tong has talked about how rising sea levels are threatening not only crops, but also fresh drinking water for the 100,000 citizens of Kiribati. After being introduced to Mr Tong, Australia’s Environment Minister reportedly said "I know why you’re here. It is for the cash. For the Pacific it’s always about the cash. I have my chequebook here. How much do you want?” The Minister first categorically denied this in Parliament, then said she could not remember what she said, then apologised if what she had said had offended the former President.

Former President Tong has called for a global moratorium on new coal mines. Australia Institute research shows that if a moratorium was imposed on the construction of new coal mines, including Adani, Australia’s coal production would decline gradually as existing mines reached the end of economic their lives. Existing coal mines and those already approved could still produce tens of millions of tonnes of coal into the 2040s, assuming other countries are still willing to buy it, with minimal impact on the economy.

Whose side was the Minister on when she outright rejected the IPCC report calling for a phase out of coal by 2050? Certainly not the side of the reef or the Pacific.

In an appeal to rural voters and the agriculture sector the Prime Minister announced that unemployed people would be forced to take rural jobs or lose 4 weeks’ Newstart payments. It was widely panned as unworkable by the agricultural groups he was seeking to help.

Finally, with the government’s one seat majority hanging in the balance, Barnaby Joyce chose the 48 hours before the Wentworth by-election as the perfect time to let us all know that he’d quite like to return to the Nationals leadership, if asked, proving Barnaby Joyce is on no one’s side but his own. It would behove the Nationals to ask rural women a few questions before they ask any of Barnaby Joyce.

The government’s key pitch for people to vote Liberal in Wentworth is stability. Before Thursday, the government had accidentally endorsed a white supremacist slogan, insulted the Pacific, angered Indonesia, disappointed the agriculture sector, ignored ASIO advice and revealed the Nationals do not appear to be on the side of their own leader. And it was Malcolm Turnbull who was supposed to be bad at politics?

Scott Morrison promised his government was going to be on the side of the Australian people, but he can barely pick a side to be on, let alone stay on it.

There are, however, at least three Liberal National MPs who proved to have total clarity about whose side they are on. Steve Minnikin, Jann Stuckey and Tim Nicholls are three LNP MPs who broke ranks this week to vote to decriminalise abortion in Queensland.

In an impassioned speech to Parliament, Steve Minnikin said “if we as a society start saying that a foetus has the right to life that overrides the pregnant woman’s right to give or deny consent and by law forces women to continue pregnancies against their will and without their consent, then effectively we would be giving a foetus more rights than an actual person and, as a logical extension and corollary, we would be giving pregnant women less rights than a corpse. I am yet to find anyone who can convince me that women should have fewer rights when they are alive than they do when they are dead.”

Perhaps showing even more leadership is former LNP leader Tim Nicholls. He once vowed that every member of his party would vote the legislation down. But on Wednesday night Nicholls helped decriminalise abortion, even though he does not support it.

"I do not support abortion," he told the Parliament. "I do support women and their right to control their own reproductive health. I wish that no woman felt the need to seek a termination ... but I recognise reality. Our termination laws need to reflect that reality."

It’s an historic vote, well overdue and congratulations and thanks are due to all the campaigners, especially to the women who made it happen after decades of effort, as well as to the fifty Labor, Greens, Independent and LNP MPs who voted to make it happen.

People might disagree with the way Nicholls, Stuckey and Minnikin voted and the forced pregnancy lobby will target them at the next election because of it, but at least voters know whose side they were on. That’s more than can be said for the Morrison government and it will take a lot more than a flag pin to fix it.

Ebony Bennett is deputy director of The Australia Institute

@ebony_bennett