Anthony Albanese is fortunate in having a compliant Senate, and the energy story offers insight into how it operates. [Source: ABC News]

Scott Morrison will forever be known as “the bulldozer”, and he lived up to his self-description at the Robodebt royal commission this week.

It was vintage Morrison, verbally lumbering about, up and down side streets of varying relevance, as he gave evidence on a scandal that involved appalling treatment of people wrongfully pursued in the name of the “integrity” of the welfare system.

What the inquiry is exposing is the extent of the integrity failure within the former government and the federal public service.

As senior minister at its inception, Morrison might be characterised (fairly or not) as the father of Robodebt.

It was developed by the Department of Human Services, together with input from his department while he was in the social services portfolio. Someone who saw himself as a “tough cop” on the welfare block, the plan, worked up in the bureaucracy, naturally appealed to him.

The big issue at Wednesday’s hearing was whether he was advised that legislation was needed for the scheme to be legal. Morrison said he wasn’t.

He maintained that, while an early executive minute referred to legislation, the final departmental submission did not indicate that would be required. A box asking whether the proposal would need legislative change was ticked “no”.

Pressed on why he did not pursue the matter, Morrison said he’d assumed the department had done its work. In the end, of course, the scheme was found illegal and the government had to repay a huge amount.

It was less the content of Wednesday’s evidence that was remarkable than the style of its delivery. Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes reprimanded Morrison multiple times for rambling rather than simply answering what he was being asked.

At one point, rather in the manner of a school teacher, she asked him sharply if he was listening. At another, she said: “I do understand that you come from a background where rhetoric is important, but it is necessary to listen to the question.”

Senior counsel assisting the commission, Justin Greggery, repeatedly called Morrison back on track, telling him 10 minutes had been wasted in one diversion.

Painful to watch, Morrison’s performance was another reminder of how out of touch with his surroundings he can be, which was a major reason he flopped as PM.