There was an interesting, albeit brief, window between education minister Dan Tehan’s comments about Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and their swift withdrawal on Sunday.

It summed up the culture wars in Australia, very neatly.

No issue is seeing them play out more clearly than the battle over schools right now – and Tehan dared to dance too close to the fire before being yanked back.  

Perhaps it could only when a member of the Morrison government dared to call out ‘Comrade Dan’, that we would see the wars blaze, briefly before our eyes, before being extinguished in panic.