Not since the infamous, expert doctoring of his ratty K-Swiss trainers have Scott Morrison’s fashion choices elicited such opprobrium.

Perhaps seeking respite from the harsh climes of post-banking royal commission Canberra, the prime minister headed to Townsville on Tuesday to get an up-close look at the unprecedented monsoonal rains ravaging much of north Queensland.

And like a man determined to enjoy his summer break whatever the weather, Morrison thrust himself gamely into his northern sojourn.

Morrison visited the homes of locals returning to survey the damage from the floods, lauded the “care and compassion” of those caught up in the disaster and declined to say much of anything about climate change.

“My thinking is the support for Townsville people,” he said. “I’m not engaging in broader policy debates today. I’m engaging in the needs of people here on the ground, people in evacuation centres.”

But his outfit and transport also drew criticism from the reliably snarky corners of social media.

Video of the PM in army fatigues as he travelled through floodwaters abreast some sort of impressive-looking amphibian military hardware was seized upon as evidence Morrison may have been hamming it up slightly for the cameras.

PM in Townsville on his way to the army base @SkyNewsAust pic.twitter.com/gqwKtxVw34 — Ahron Young (@AhronYoung) February 4, 2019

To be fair to Morrison, he has faced criticism from Queenslanders for abandoning terrestrial travel in the past, and it’s unclear how the decommissioned ScoMo Express would have fared in rising floodwaters.

Add to that just how difficult it is to pull off camo green (just ask Melania Trump) and his apparently singular knack for fashion faux pas – the shoes, the hats, the jersey – and you have yourself an easy target for ridicule.

And it’s not like the PM is alone among politicians in wanting to put his contemporary spin on John Galliano’s spring 08 collection.

In 2017, the Kremlin caused a stir when it released a series of images of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, fishing, diving and sun-baking in fashionably worn camouflage to help cultivate his virile man-of-action image.

Closer to home, the One Nation senator Pauline Hanson outed herself as a fan of a heavier duty military look during a visit to Afghanistan last year, while the defence minister, Christopher Pyne, loves nothing more than donning a uniform.

Other, less fashion forward politicians have plumped for the reflective glow of military chic. Think Malcolm Turnbull’s photoshoot with a crew of extremely terrifying special forces troops in 2017, or, further back, Tony Abbott’s adorable, barely contained glee as he gave the thumbs up from the cockpit of a Joint Strike Fighter plane in 2014.