SCOTT Morrison once retreated behind the secrecy of Operation Sovereign Borders, but this week he’s become the Everywhere Man in a whirlwind round of media appearances.

And whatever his intention, his freshly scrubbed and friendly political persona is being linked to the Liberal leadership issues.

Mr Morrison was not part of attempts to remove or rebuke Prime Minister Tony Abbott last week, but he appears to be making it clear that should there be a leadership collapse, he might be an option.

He has been sending out two distinct but related messages: I’m good at getting on with the job, and I’m not the brute some might have thought.

In a Fairfax newspaper profile on Sunday, he billed himself as a “fixer” and promised “a kinder gentler approach”, a reference to his time as Immigration Minister.

When he was in charge of immigration Mr Morrison often hid himself and information behind the paramilitary palisades of border protection operations.

As Minister for Social Services, he is keen to talk widely, like a prisoner who has escaped solitary confinement and is rediscovering conversation.

Over the past two days Mr Morrison has dropped into radio and TV studios — three a day at least — to discuss national security, Budget strategy, and of course, welfare.

He has been skilful enough to cover these topics without trampling the turf of the relevant ministers, but has said enough to outline his policy experience.

And Mr Morrison has been able to rack up some political good news for a government which has been on good news rations for weeks.

On Monday he told 770,000 pensioners they will get an extra $200 million to counter the lower deeming rates which begin next month. And today he reassured pensioners the family home would not be included in the asset test for their benefits.

His prospects for being the bearer of further good tidings are expected to increase, with the Budget to boost assistance to families for child care, possibly through his department.

Mr Morrison did the job for the Coalition and stopped the boats — at the cost of some savage readings of his character. Now he has a less controversial task.

Today he was asked about the performance of the other possible leadership contender, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and his appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program.

He rejected the idea Mr Turnbull was trying to “put a bit of a knife into the Prime Minister”.

“I don’t think so. Malcolm is always entertaining on those programs,” said Mr Morrison.

In another interview he said: ”Well Malcolm is always an entertaining character on Q&A, must be why they’ve invited him back so often.”

Scott Morrison doesn’t have much time for “those programs”, and the suspicion is he might not have much time for potential rival Malcolm Turnbull either.