He had the option to walk away but soldiered on, I’ll bet in ignorant bliss.
You're referring to the pilot here,
JamieMaree.
The only one showing "ignorant bliss" is yourself. The pilot did not have the "option" to walk away.
A cold hard reality of commercial aviation is that if this pilot had walked away from that flight, he would have been walking away from his job - with an adverse employment reference under his arm, making it harder to get another job.
Such is the reality of commercial aviation, not just in Australia, but all over the world.