So it's hard to believe that anyone advising Prime Minister Scott Morrison could have thought taking a holiday to Hawaii right now might be a good thing to do.

The bushfire crisis demands vocal and visible leadership and the PM and simply cannot provide that from the middle of the Pacific.

Acting prime minister Michael McCormack's press conference on Tuesday, where he argued the prime minister deserved a holiday like every other Australian worker, simply dug a deeper hole for the government.

Few would deny the prime minister time with his family but he is not just another Australian worker.

When he put himself forward to lead this country, he was agreeing to take on both the benefits and burdens that come with the office.

And with so many fires to be fought on the home front, both figurative and literal, now is not the time for the prime minister to be jetting overseas.

If he did need a break, even holidaying at home and putting money into struggling local communities would have created a better look than the image of him sipping cocktails on an Hawaiian beach.

A regular criticism of this government - indeed, many governments - is that it is out of touch with the community it is elected to serve.

The government and its advisers must be keenly aware of this criticism and so we would expect them to be ultra-sensitive about the impression their decisions create.

Scott Morrison has again displayed a tin ear for what the public is telling him.

It was bad enough when he seemed to suggest that volunteer firefighters wanted to be on the ground battling these blazes; it's even worse that he has left them to do their best while he takes a break overseas.

Plenty of Australian employees and employers have had holidays cut short or plans cancelled at the last minute because there has been an emergency at the office.

Mr Morrison might not be on the frontline fighting the fires but, as the figurehead of the parliament and the leader of this nation, he should be here to provide whatever moral support he can.

That's the public's perception, which means it's the politics' reality.