Posing in a pair of boardies with some excited Australian tourists, the now-infamous picture of Scott Morrison on holiday in Hawaii all but cleared up questions around his whereabouts.
But a bizarre theory says the Prime Minister had instead taken a secret trip to New York to support his pastor friend Brian Houston as he opened a new Hillsong church.
Media analyst Julian Evans said he ‘heard reports’ that Mr Morrison had jetted to America earlier this week.
On Friday morning, Mr Morrison confirmed he was in Hawaii but was jetting back to Sydney after the death of two volunteer firefighters.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny (pictured) sing during an Easter Sunday service at his Horizon Church in Sydney
The Hillsong founder confirmed earlier this month that it was opening the new facility in New York by posting on Twitter (pictured)
A social media user asks Hillsong whether Scott Morrison was in attendance this week (pictured)
Another critic of the Prime Minister made the unsubstantiated claim on Facebook (pictured)
But Mr Evans claimed his unusual theory explained why the Prime Minister’s team had taken such an ‘unusually secret approach’ to where he was.
His office refused to confirm where he had gone, citing ‘protocol’ and ‘security reasons’.
‘I’m hearing reports that place missing Australian PM Scott Morrison in New York,’ Evans said.
‘Due to Scott’s unusually secret approach to movement, FNC is unable to confirm at this hour where Morrison is and who he is secretly meeting with. ‘ScoMo’ will reportedly be in NY for 5 days.’
The theory popped up across social media.
A photo of a group of Australian tourists who claimed to be with Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured, second from right) emerged on social media on Thursday evening
Prime Minister Scott Morrison with his wife, Jenny (pictured together) during a previous trip away. They are understood to have been in Honolulu for a ‘well-deserved break’
Brian Houston’s Instagram post (pictured) showed Hillsong’s lavish new offices in New York
On December 4, Hillsong’s founder Brian Houston – a mentor to Mr Morrison – thanked God for helping the megachurch acquire three floors of office space in Manhattan.
Sharing a picture of the modern office on Instagram, he wrote: ‘God has opened the door for to move into 3 beautiful floors of office space in the heart of Downtown Manhattan.
‘It also includes a ‘chapel’ and mid-week hub. It’s a major miracle for us to have purchased such a beautiful space in the heart of NYC.’
Mr Morrison called Mr Houston his ‘mentor’ during his maiden speech to Parliament in 2008.
In July, the Prime Minister and his wife Jenny appeared at the opening session for the Hillsong annual conference, standing by Mr Houston’s side.
‘There’s a lot of talk about our freedoms as Christians in this country and they should be protected,’ Mr Morrison said at the conference.
Their relationship caused controversy in October, after it was claimed Mr Morrison had requested the religious leader join him a state dinner with President Donald Trump at the White House.
But Mr Houston insisted he wasn’t aware of any invitation made by Mr Morrison, saying the strength of their relationship had been overblown.
‘If people only knew how little I talk to the Prime Minister at all,’ he said at the time.
‘It seems I’m a lot more important in a lot of people’s eyes than I really am.
‘Was I invited? I genuinely don’t know.
‘At first I thought ‘well no, I wasn’t,’ because it was news to me. Now I literally don’t know because the Prime Minister and I have never had a conversation about that.’
Mr Morrison reportedly pre-planned a trip away to align with his daughters school holidays (Pictured with his wife, Jenny, daughters Abbey and Lily and his mother Marion)
In a statement released on Friday morning, Mr Morrison confirmed he was cutting his Hawaiian holiday short and would come back to Sydney as NSW continues to suffer devastating bushfires.
The Prime Minister faced fierce criticism for going on the unannounced family break.
Mr Morrison said he ‘deeply regretted any offence caused’ by his holiday during the raging fires.
‘Over the course of the past week I have been taking leave with my family,’ his statement confirmed.
‘Our leave was brought forward due to the need to cancel our scheduled leave in January because of our official government visit to India and Japan at the invitation of PMs Modi and Abe.
‘I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time.
But Mr Morrison further angered voters in a radio interview later on Friday.
‘It’s not easy to get back, but I will as soon as I can,’ Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.
‘I know Australians will understand this, and they’ll be pleased I’m coming back… but they know that, you know, I don’t hold a hose mate.’
So where is Scott Morrison? Greens MP David Shoebridge asked his followers that question, before claiming he’d heard rumours the PM was in Hawaii