By ABC's Barrie Cassidy

Photo: Tony Abbott and his strategists are closing down the political debate as best they can. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

The Abbott Government is entitled, and indeed smart, to wind back the media focus. But not to the point where routine scrutiny is almost impossible, writes Barrie Cassidy.

The Treasurer, Joe Hockey, demonstrated twice this week that the new Coalition Government has it all over the previous mob when it comes to strategy.

First, he insisted that the debt ceiling be raised way beyond expectations to $500 billion. That should take the politics out of the debt issue. What government wouldn't want that?

Hockey merely wants to ensure that Labor in opposition can't do to him what he did routinely to them when they were in government.

Then on 7.30 on Tuesday night he deflected a tricky question on the expenses scandal with another routine shot that never occurred to former Labor ministers.

"I'll leave that to the Minister for State," he said.

"The Minister for State" is in fact the Special Minister of State, Senator Michael Ronaldson, who like most of the rest of the ministry is rarely available for interviews. So you can chase your tail on that one for as long as you like.

Tony Abbott and his strategists are closing down the political debate as best they can.

For now, the tactic probably has public support. The sound of silence is just what they need after the ceaseless crescendo of what has passed for debate for years now.

The electorate was surely sick to death of the daily churn. Labor ministers convinced themselves that more was best; the more they talked, the more likely they were to gather support.

Or at the very least they felt if they left a vacuum, the Abbott opposition would fill it.

Well, has the penny dropped now that they have seen the alternative put in practice? Labor has had it on its own for weeks now, and how has that gone?

The previous government overplayed the media game. So many of the messengers were flawed. They irritated rather than inspired, but never knew it.

The approach by the new government is working just fine (in a strategic sense) for now, and the NSW bushfires have kept the media busy with blanket coverage for more than a week.

But how long can it last?

While some might be enjoying the break, the political class will eventually claim back their relevance. More to the point, the public deserves better.

All governments, and all ministers, should be accountable to the public through the media.

The Abbott Government is entitled, and indeed smart, to wind back the media focus. But not to the point where routine scrutiny is almost impossible.

In the meantime, we are seeing examples in the rare interviews that are getting through of why the Abbott Government prefers to limit them.

The Environment Minister Greg Hunt went offshore to the BBC to argue he had verified on Wikipedia that climate change has not caused bushfires.

The reliability of that source was obvious the same day when somebody altered his Wikipedia profile to say: "Since the 2013 election ... he (Hunt) has already proven to be terrible at his job."

Then Tony Abbott used an interview on 3AW to say the head of the United Nations climate change negotiations was "talking through her hat" by suggesting a link between bushfires and climate change.

Whatever the cause of the current NSW fires - and to be fair they range from child arsonists to the army - it is a stretch to argue that warmer temperatures and below average rainfall does not add to the risk of fires more generally.

Then Abbott showed further poor judgment by appearing to defend his West Australian colleague Don Randall for flying across the country, with his wife, at taxpayers' expense, to have a conversation with the government whip that could have been held on the telephone.

"I mean there are certain things which just have to happen face to face," he said.

And what would they be?

That's the trouble with interviews that go awry. They tend to further persuade the strategists to allow less of them.

Barrie Cassidy is the presenter of Insiders and Offsiders on ABC1. View his full profile here.

How long can the ministerial sound of silence last? - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)