Aussies have ripped into former Opposition leader Peter Dutton after footage emerged of him catching a commercial flight weeks after his election loss on May 3.
A passenger shared a video to TikTok on Friday of Dutton on board a Virgin flight.
The short clip showed Dutton briefly spotting the camera while he put his luggage in the overhead locker.
‘Peter Dutton literally went from almost being Prime Minister of to flying commercial,’ the caption read.
‘Peter Dutton in the only seat he could get.’
Several social media users were quick to slam Dutton with the footage being viewed almost 1million times.
‘This is brilliant,’ one wrote.
‘Look says it all,’ a second added.
Another said: ‘So satisfying.’
‘I would definitely put my seat back or push my knees into the seat in front. continuously. back and forth….. in and out!!!’ a fourth chimed in.
Others applauded Dutton for flying commercial and reducing his environmental impact.
‘If he flew private you would hate him for that as well,’ one wrote.
‘Good on him! He can obviously afford first class but is humble,’ another said.
‘Good on him for flying commercial, unlike Greens leader Adam brandt who used millions of taxpayer money to fly private jets,’ another wrote.
‘In fairness he is no longer a public figure or elected member of parliament so he can probably have some privacy now,’ another said.
The video comes just days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Brisbane’s Nova FM radio station he had ‘an okay relationship, a professional relationship, if you like’ with Dutton.
‘It’s really tough for him and his family as well,’ Albanese added.
‘I’m not sure what he will do, but I’m sure he’ll be successful in other arenas as well.’
Dutton suffered the ultimate indignity on election night when he not only led a failed campaign but was ousted from his own seat of Dickson in Brisbane’s outer-northern suburbs – which he had held since 2001 – by Labor’s Ali France.
In a reflection of the respect the two men held for one another – even if they traded barbs on the campaign trail – Dutton gave a gracious concession speech in which he revealed he had rung Albanese to tell him how proud his late mother would have been of his victory.
The Prime Minister said politics was an ‘honourable profession’ but acknowledged it came with huge downsides.
‘You expose yourself publicly, particularly with social media,’ he told the radio station.
‘Don’t read the comments out there, folks. It can be really brutal, and you’ve got to be resilient.’
Dutton had yet to commit to what he will do next, but vowed not to be a commentator sniping from the sidelines.
‘The best model I’ve seen is where leaders, former, make a graceful exit from politics and maintain their graceful silence, so that’ll be my model,’ he said recently.
Dutton reportedly made $30million of property transactions over 35 years.
He purchased his first home at 19, before going on to buy and sell 26 pieces of real estate, according to an analysis of property and corporate records, parliamentary registers and real estate data carried out by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Dutton turned a healthy profit from his various real estate investments, with property purchases totalling $12million and sales of $18.8million.
The properties include luxury city apartments, childcare centres, a shopping plaza, a beachfront mansion and a farm.
At his peak he owned five properties at the same time across Queensland, in addition to a flat in the ACT.