When it comes to failure of responsibility, there are far greater examples than Barnaby Joyce’s pavement incident

There was much interest in Barnaby Joyce’s footpath incident, while ministerial responsibility in the administration of Australia’s offshore detention regime seems to have flown under the radar. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The footage was embarrassing. Barnaby Joyce, the former deputy prime minister and current shadow minister, swearing into his phone, supine on Lonsdale street, Braddon, in the nation’s capital.

The incident sparked criticism in the Nationals party room, a cross-bench call for random alcohol and drug testing in parliament and a makeshift memorial crafted by the mischievous Ken Behrens (Canberrans).