Barnaby Joyce’s shadow ministry portfolio up in the air following plant box incident as Dutton passes the buck to Littleproud

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has remained coy on a potential Cabinet reshuffle in light of frontbencher Barnaby Joyce’s latest late-night incident in Canberra where he was spotted laying on a footpath and swearing into his phone.

Vision obtained by Daily Mail Australia showed the Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister flat on the ground of a popular restaurant street in Braddon just over an hour after he was returning to his accommodation from a parliamentary sitting.

Mr Joyce claimed to have fallen off a plant box and said he was on a phone call with his wife Vikki Campion, dismissing speculation the incident may have been caused by drunkenness.

Asked how the episode would reflect on his future in the Coalition, Mr Dutton drew focus to the “support” the Nationals MP needed at the time of his fall rather than being turned into a media spectacle.

“It’s pretty rough when people walking past somebody who may be in need of support,” the Opposition leader told Sunday Agenda.

Mr Dutton said the decision around Mr Joyce’s shadow ministry portfolio for veterans’ affairs was one for Nationals leader David Littleproud, adding his Liberal frontbench was in solid form.

“It’s a matter for the Nationals Party in relation to their own party room and it’s David’s decision about the people he wants to have on the frontbench,” he said.

“More broadly, the question about my frontbench, I think we’re in the strongest position any opposition has been in in decades. I’m proud of the frontbench we’ve got.”

The Nationals MP has admitted feeling “embarrassed” by the ordeal, but clarified the obscenities he was yelling out were only an “animated” description of himself and not directed to another.

“While I was on the phone, I sat on the edge of a plant box, fell over, kept talking on the phone, and very animatedly was referring to myself for having fallen over,” Mr Joyce’s office said in a statement.

“I got up and walked home.”

His wife Vikki Campion also backed the defence, saying Mr Joyce was someone who often liked to “self-flagellate”.

Ms Campion said she was disappointed the passer-by who chose to record her husband in what was a clearly distressed state rather than come to his aid and check in on his injuries.

Politicians who have addressed the issue – including Nationals Party members, Labor MPs, and the Prime Minister – largely maintained the view Mr Joyce had undergone difficult circumstances.

Mr Littleproud has refrained from commenting on the matter.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers also touched on the incident with Sky News on Sunday, saying while it warranted an explanation from My Joyce, he would not attack the MP over it.

“I know that people will have a view about it, I know that people will have their fun with it,” he said.

“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.”

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe claimed the political response towards the Nationals MP had been significantly different to that of her infamous headline-making incident from April last year which saw her screaming expletives to a group of men outside a Melbourne strip club.

Ms Thorpe’s rant drew widespread backlash, even from the PM – a reaction she claims was founded in the “sexism, misogyny, and racism” embedded in Australian politics.

“It’s no surprise that Albanese laughs off this behaviour when it comes from one of his male colleagues, but has demonstrated his willingness to make condescending, inaccurate comments about his female colleagues, myself included,” she said.

“Parliament is still a private school boys club, and this is the latest example of the double standards we see from men in power.”