The citizenship fiasco stopped being a mere “distraction” a long time ago, probably around the time Barnaby Joyce admitted he was a Kiwi. And last Friday the High Court escalated it to a major problem. But until Stephen Parry this week, it wasn’t a problem that reflected on the government’s internal stability and competence. Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash should have resigned or at least stood aside immediately, but the decision that they remain in place was a political one. Stephen Parry, however, has exposed something very, very wrong within the government. And it revolves around this statement about Parry from Malcolm Turnbull earlier in the week at the, in retrospect, aptly named Grove of Nations in Jerusalem:

“I learnt about it probably about the same time you did on Tuesday, yesterday.”

That is, Turnbull had been left in the dark about the president of the Senate being ineligible to sit in parliament by Parry himself and, as we learnt yesterday as the Tasmanian sought to justify his bizarre decision to stay silent, by at least one and probably several ministers in whom he confided. We know one of them is Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, whom Parry told some weeks ago. But there are others.

Apparently none thought it worthwhile to tell Turnbull — and certainly not to tell Parry he should put his hand up so his case could be referred to the High Court along with the other seven MPs and senators. No one thought to tell the Attorney-General either, which is why George Brandis was made to look a fool on Sunday when he waved away the possibility any more government MPs or senators had citizenship issues. George Brandis can make himself look a fool perfectly well. He doesn’t need other people to help.

That cabinet ministers left the PM and the AG in the dark about the Parry issue is simply extraordinary. In normal circumstances, Turnbull would be within his rights to sack a minister who so egregiously failed such a basic test of good judgement. But that’s clearly not going to happen here. There are, apparently, too many to sack, and Turnbull is too weak anyway.

And, a little like the way Trump has normalised all manner of sickening and bizarre behaviour in US politics, we’ve become numbed by repetition to the incompetence of this government. Events that would have constituted a crisis during the Gillard government are just part of the general ebb-and-flow of chaos at the moment in federal politics. Weeks declared disastrous for the government are followed by even worse weeks, but we go on as though things are somehow normal. Crises jostle for attention, each one holding our attention only briefly before another crops up to take its place. We used to talk about the need for a beleaguered government to get “clear air”. There’s about as much chance of the Turnbull government getting clear air as a Beijing pollution inspector. And if by some miracle it did, a Strangelove-like hand would lurch up to begin strangling it.

How much longer can this show go on?