The only beneficiary of the unfortunate and avoidable war of words that has erupted between the Prime Minister and the European Union is the Coalition government.
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This largely irrelevant stoush is the latest example of how a beleaguered administration can divert enemy fire by creating a convenient distraction.
The Prime Minister's specific reference to "the situation in Europe and other places that has frustrated that supply [of AstraZeneca]" during his Tuesday press conference was always going to provoke a response for the European Union given the suggestion it was practicing vaccine nationalism.
That response took the form of a rather legalistic claim by the EU that it had only blocked 250,000 doses of the vaccine from coming to Australia, not the 3.1 million claimed by the federal government.
Then, instead of taking steps to resolve a small diplomatic hiccup before it could evolve into a significant crisis that may delay vaccine deliveries from the EU even further, Mr Morrison went down a far less responsible, but certainly politically expedient, path.
Acting with an almost indecent haste which certainly didn't leave time for considered reflection, his office called a "COVID-19 update" press conference ahead of Wednesday morning's cabinet meeting.
The PM opened the batting by rather disingenuously stating "at no time yesterday did I make any comment about the actions of the European Union... any suggestion that I, in any way, made any criticism of the European Union yesterday would be completely incorrect".
The next few minutes were devoted to the many alleged sins of omission the EU had committed in its dealings with Australia over the delivery of vaccines.
To be fair, Mr Morrison did make some good points. These included noting some specific export applications had not been proceeded with after EU officials told Australia they would not succeed.
It was also of serious concern that the EU has yet to respond to last month's request for the release of a million AstraZeneca doses for Papua New Guinea; a nation that, unlike Australia, is recording thousands of new cases of COVID-19. That issue needs to be resolved immediately to prevent a serious health crisis from rapidly escalating in the Pacific.
The obvious point, that the EU was entitled to hold back vaccines from a country with very few cases while its members were in a full-blown crisis, was not addressed.
All of that said, international relations are not conducted in a court of law. Results do not automatically flow from proving your case or winning the argument. Ramping up the rhetoric, as Mr Morrison should surely have learnt from his recent News Corp sexual harassment gaffe, can easily backfire.
If the Prime Minister's intention was to facilitate the shipment of the delayed 3.1 million AstraZeneca doses, his public statements on the issue are unlikely to achieve that goal.
If, on the other hand, the intention was to deflect attention from the mishandling of the treatment of women debate, of the disappointingly slow pace of the Australian vaccine roll-out, and the fact the government has significantly over promised and under-delivered on the local vaccine production program then all of this makes perfect sense. It's just politics as usual.