Shocking new footage has surfaced showing John Barilaro and his new girlfriend attacking camera crews after being confronted outside a bar on Sydney’s northern beaches.
The former deputy prime minister got into a scuffle with two cameramen after being confronted on a night out, with police now investigating the very public spat.
The video captured the incident outside a bar in Manly on Saturday after a Channel Seven reporter approached Barilaro because Labor was blocking his attempts to appear for an investigation into the decision to give him a lucrative trading job in New York.
The former NSW Nationals leader initially dismissed questions, saying ‘It’s a night out, it’s all good’, before the incident turned ugly.
Barilaro repeatedly swiped at two cameramen before his new girlfriend, a former media consultant, tried to grab the expensive equipment.
The freelance videographer said he was “afraid” for his safety after Barilaro and his party lashed out at him.
“You can’t act like that, whoever you are,” Matt Costello said.
Shocking new footage has surfaced showing John Barilaro and his new girlfriend attacking camera crews after being confronted outside a bar on Sydney’s northern beaches
Barliaro was flanked by a security guard on Saturday night and joined by his new girlfriend and another friend at a bar in Manly.
Barilaro was pictured earlier in the evening eating pizza and drinks at a bar on Manly Wharf, flanked by a security guard.
After leaving the venue, he was confronted by the Channel Seven team, where the former Deputy Prime Minister initially rejected their questions.
As reporter Barilaro insisted, the former MP lunged at the camera before his guard threw a microphone into a bush.
Mrs. Barilaro’s new girlfriend seemed to stop him from approaching the reporter before he walked over to the second camera and lunged for it.
The pair then moved back toward the cameraman, with both repeatedly attempting to knock the equipment out of his hands.
Mr Costello tried to continue filming while blocking Mr Barilaro with his other hand while the former Deputy Prime Minister continued to swipe at him.
The group then walked away from the altercation, before appearing on 2GB Monday morning claiming the “microphone and camera” had been shoved in his face.
Police investigate footage showing former Deputy Prime Minister John Barilaro locked in a scuffle with a cameraman
The video captured the incident which took place on Saturday outside a bar in Manly, on Sydney’s northern beaches
“The reality is that people are now piling up, harassing, intruding, not allowing me to move on with my life, I am a private individual,” Mr Barilaro said.
“They turned up with a cameraman. I don’t know who it was, I just know you could see a bright light shining into my black face.”
Mr Barilaro added: “All I did was push a camera out of the way, not mistreat anyone.
“Let me tell you, some of those people who were having dinner with me were pushed and chased away.”
Barilaro challenged the Labor Party to call him in for the parliamentary inquiry, in which the former deputy prime minister is currently not expected to appear.
“I’m shouting, today I’m available to appear here this week for an inquiry to tell my side of the story, and let’s do that before this gets any uglier,” he added.
“What happened on Saturday night is not pleasant for me, nor for the cameraman. At the same time, I have every right to defend myself and protect myself and my friends.’
Former Monaro member Peter Cochran claimed that Mr Barilaro was ‘deprived of his freedom’.
“John Barilaro is a private individual who has committed no offense,” he said.
He is denied his freedom and harassed by the media. This will push him to the limit like Gladys did. The media must withdraw.’
NSW police told Daily Mail Australia that an investigation into the incident had been launched.
“Officials with the Northern Beaches Police Force are investigating an incident that took place around 7:30 p.m. … outside a bar in Manly,” a spokesman said.
Barilaro claimed he was being hounded by the media as a parliamentary inquiry continues into his appointment to a lucrative trade commissioner post in New York
“The investigation into the incident is ongoing and there is no further information at this stage.”
Mr. Barilaro resigned from the $500,000-a-year New York post last month after being criticized for the appointment.
Joseph Brayford, a senior policy advisor in Mr Barilaro’s office from 2019 to 2021, testified privately in the upper house inquiry on Tuesday.
Mr Brayford said he received a text from Mr Barilaro last August about the role of the plum trade, according to a transcript published on Thursday.
He said his boss asked him to contact Amy Brown, the head of Investment NSW, as soon as possible to “request a cabinet submission that converts Commissioner roles into ministerial appointments”.
The request marked the first time in two and a half years working for Mr Barilaro that he had received a text message from his boss asking him to prepare an urgent cabinet filing, he said.
“Nothing really surprised me with John,” Mr Brayford told the committee.
John Barilaro requested a change that would make the US trade position a ministerial appointment, a senior adviser in his office told an inquiry on Tuesday.
He added Mr Barilaro then told him he also wanted the trade functions in London and Tokyo to be changed to ministerial appointments.
The proposal to change the way trade commissioners were appointed was presented to the cabinet in late September, shortly before Barilaro’s announcement in October that he would retire from politics at the end of the year.
Brayford described his former boss as an “interesting character” and said he had never “worked with someone so enthusiastic and so ambitious.”
Mr Barilaro said he would not comment on the claims until asked to appear at the inquiry. He is not currently scheduled to testify.