Peter Dutton has defended his frontbencher Barnaby Joyce after he appeared to be drunkenly lying on his back after a night out in Braddon, a scene which has now become a local attraction on Canberra's busy Lonsdale street.
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Political heavyweights are weighing in on the sight of the former deputy prime minister caught on video late on Wednesday mumbling profanities.
The video was given to the media and it quickly spread on social media, while a chalk outline with a crude hat has been anonymously drawn on the footpath next to the planter box he failed to sit on.
Mr Joyce is "very embarrassed" and insists the rude "animated" words were about himself, but the incident has been criticised by some irate Nationals colleagues and independent senator Lidia Thorpe has decried double standards over her own caught on video moment outside a Melbourne strip club last year.
Both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader advised her to get help with Mr Albanese saying her behaviour was "quite clearly unacceptable" and Mr Dutton saying she had "a lot of issues".
On Mr Joyce, Mr Albanese said he did not intend to comment on the "difficult circumstance," while Mr Dutton said he planned to speak to Mr Joyce when Parliament returns.
"It's pretty rough when people are walking past somebody who might need support. I understand a chalk mark has been drawn on the footpath. It could only happen in Canberra where all those Greens and Labor staffers are," Mr Dutton told Sky News on Sunday.
"I will have a chat with Barnaby later this week and as you said David Littleproud spoke with Barnaby and is going to speak him again this week and that is where the situation is at at the moment."
Independent ACT senator David Pocock has questioned Mr Joyce's actions as a senior federal representative.
"If you are a public servant and footage emerged of you doing that, I dare say there would be serious consequences. So it's up to the people he represents. That's what it comes comes down to," he told reporters in Canberra.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was matter for the National Party.
"I know that people will have a view about it; I know that people will have their fun with it," he told Sky News.
"From a personal point of view, I don't like to see anyone in that state. I find it a little bit disturbing, and so I'm not going to take shots at Barnaby about it. He needs to explain it and I'll focus on doing my job."