The Prime Minister attended a Father’s Day luncheon to mark the occasion and spoke to reporters about his government’s achievements, although he acknowledged room for improvement.

“Look, with the wisdom of 20:20 hindsight there are always some things (that could have been done differently),” Mr Abbott said. “But we’ve faced some difficult challenges and I think we’ve handled them pretty well.”

The consensus from the Canberra press gallery is that Mr Abbott has been better at responding to events than implementing his own agenda.

This is a fair assessment. His leadership during the Malaysian Airlines crisis in Ukraine was one step ahead of other Western leaders.

Mr Abbott was strong in his dealings with Russia and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop reinforced Australia’s key role in attempts to resolve the sad and sorry tale.

However, the federal government has been far weaker at implementing its own agenda apart from the success of the “turn back the boats” policy.

An unprecedented avalanche of criticism has followed the federal budget since it was handed down in May, some of it unwarranted, much of it justified.

The GP co-payment and deregulation of the university sector are seemingly the most unpalatable elements of Treasurer Joe Hockey’s prescription to improve Australia’s budgetary health.

A comparatively small increase to fuel taxation became an albatross around Mr Hockey’s neck. Instead of pointing out that the average driver would pay only a few dollars extra a month at the petrol pump, he made the absurd suggestion that poor people didn’t drive.

This was no mere gaffe. Mr Hockey used statistics to back up his argument before making a red-faced apology.

The federal government needs to avoid the perception of looking after the “big end of town.” The PM acknowledged as much in his anniversary press conference.

Economic restraint is a fine ideal but it needs to be tempered with a dose of social reality.