Why does Scott Morrison keep dragging his wife Jenny into things, even Will Smith's slap of Chris Rock?

And Scott Morrison has had lots of practice answering those big questions about climate change and cost of living, even about gender equality.

So when the PM was asked on Brisbane radio about the slap heard around the world, he answered from his heart.

Just to remind you, on Tuesday at the Academy Awards, comedian Chris Rock made what he thought was a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, the wife of actor Will Smith. Rock said he was looking forward to GI Jane 2. That was a reference to Ridley Scott's 1997 movie in which Demi Moore played a shaven-headed marine. Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a disease that causes hair loss. Geddit? (Now insert the eyeroll employed by Pinkett Smith when she heard the comments.)

Will Smith laughed at first but then bolted on to the stage, whacked Rock hard and shouted: "Keep my wife's name out of your f---ing mouth."

And what did our prime minister say when asked about this incident?

Did he say a) I do not support violence of any kind; b) I'd prefer to talk about climate change and cost of living or c) yeah, I get it.

If you guessed "c", go to the top of the class. Mr Morrison's exact response was: "I'm also fiercely defensive of anybody who would say anything ever about Jenny too. I can understand it," he said

"But as I think, as everybody understands, that's not how you roll."

Thank god it's not how you roll. But let's unroll his answer. I have issues with Hollywood exemplified in the conduct of the two men at the heart of this story. One, don't make fun of someone's medical sitch. Two, don't respond to that "fun" with violence. But it now turns out I have to deal with a prime minister who drags his wife into everything.

Maybe she wants to be seen as a distressed damsel who needs rescuing. My guess is that trope is far from the truth. She seems perfectly capable of looking after herself and of helping to reconstruct her husband from invisible politician to Pentecostal daggy dad, one who would do anything for love.

Now he doesn't espouse violence. He clearly says it's not how he rolls. But it's the vibe he gives off.

As director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre Kate Fitz-Gibbon says, men's violence is a national crisis in Australia.

"To have the leader of our country commenting on the acceptability of men's violence in any context is extremely dangerous and will have a ripple effect," she says. As she points out, violence is never acceptable.

"The excuse of committing violence for love is an age-old one that is highly problematic." Understatement.

The good news is the federal government has recently committed unprecedented funding to support the work of Our Watch, Australia's dedicated prevention agency for violence against women. Someone in there has some understanding of what needs to happen.

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But the PM's comments "understand" Smith's behaviour. It's a weird flex for someone who pretends to be like the "ordinary Australian". The ordinary Australian does not, on the whole, slap people who've said the stupid insensitive thing. Otherwise we'd be exhausted.

As Fitz-Gibbon reminds us, one of the key drivers of violence against women is the condoning of violence in any context.

"There will be men across our community that look to the words of the prime minister and understand it as condoning men's violence, as providing a legitimate excuse for that violence. This is not OK," she says.

Meanwhile, we wait for any release of any information - at all - about the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. And any indication of whether the Prime Minister has even read it.