Forget the fast-food fix, Morrison's trying a new economic recipe

Scott Morrison and his government love visual metaphors and, for them, the coronavirus catastrophe has provided rich bounty.

Since the onset of the crisis two-and-a-half months ago, economic relief packages have been likened variously to bridges across chasms, as well as cushions to soften the blow.

More recently, as the economy began to recover, we have been exhorted to get out from under the doona but not before applying sunscreen, as in downloading the COVID-19 app. The Prime Minister has dropped "breadcrumbs'' along the way to let us into his thinking as to the next steps. At times, we have been on the road in, the road through and, now, we're on the road out.

Various "roadmaps" have been drawn up and then abandoned as circumstances changed from V-shapes to U-shapes to Ws, and snap-back became a staggered recovery. And always, we have been encouraged as a polity to liken ourselves to the emu and kangaroo on the national coat of arms and not take a backwards step.

This week, with the virus under control, it became a matter of getting the economy out of ICU and weaning it off the "medication before it becomes too accustomed to it''.

And soon, we may well hear about a Prime Minister's disdain for fast food.

As the $60 billion bungle over JobKeeper revealed, the starting point for the recovery is relatively a lot better than thought.

As the government embarks on a softening up exercise for the October budget, arguably the most critical to be handed down in decades, Morrison tells those around him he wants people to be able to "digest" his plans and understand the need for change, not put it out all at once and have it scarfed down like fast food.

This week’s historic moves to dump the Council of Australian Governments and replace it with a system based on the national cabinet and sign up to a new accord-style compact with unions and business to negotiate an overhaul of the industrial relations system are just the entree.