The Snapchat caption – “birthday day treat” – didn’t leave much to the imagination, but reporting of the latest powder-gate has been at pains to clarify it “is not suggesting the white substance is drugs”.

But if outlets weren’t thinking that, there would be no story published at all.

Most will agree that children of politicians shouldn’t face the same scrutiny their parents signed up for in choosing elected office.

Following widespread reporting of the wayward Snapchat that featured Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s son posing with a bag containing an unknown substance, government minister Tanya Plibersek summed it up well: “Peter Dutton’s a public figure, but his son’s not … It’s not an easy life. We go into public life and we choose it. Our families don’t choose it, that’s for sure.”

So while the decent-minded tend to want to give the teenager a break, the entire discussion is driven by an elephant in the room that few speak out loud.

According to the 2022-23 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 18 per cent of Australians had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months – that’s 3.4 million people. In all, 47 per cent have done so in their lifetime.

Dutton’s son is 18. In 2022-2023, 35 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months – that’s 800,000 people.

It’s as common as........

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