Nine chairman Peter Costello has denied shirt-fronting a journalist at Canberra Airport and forcing him to fall to the ground during a wild doorstop interview.
Australia’s longest serving Treasurer refused to answer the reporter’s questions on Thursday afternoon as he walked through the airport.
But witnesses have compared the former deputy Liberal leader’s stature to that of “a sumo wrestler” after the 6′ 4″ (1.93 m) former MP got up close with reporter Liam Mendes who works for The Australian.
It follows a furore over allegations of bullying and harassment that have engulfed Nine and a complaint over the conduct of former news chief Darren Wick.
No allegations have been made against the chairman personally.
As he was grilled over the issue in the airport by Mendes, Mr Costello says “Good to see you” to a passerby before looming large as he advances on the reporter’s camera.
“Don’t, don’t,’’ the reporter says before falling backwards.
The journalist then crashes to the ground, falls backwards.
Mr Costello, who is seen standing over Mendes, then turns and walks away as the reporter lies on the ground.
The journalist then crashes to the ground and falls backwards and says, “You’ve just assaulted me.”
A man can be heard laughing as Mendes lies on the tiled airport floor.
The Nine Chairman was in the nation’s capital for the launch of Nine’s newly renovated Canberra bureau in the press gallery.
Mr Costello told reporters at Parliament House that that any suggestion he should resign was “rubbish” and he did not “lay a finger” on the reporter.
“As I walked past him, he walked back into an advertising placard and he fell over. I did not strike him. If he’s upset about that, I’m sorry. But I did not strike him,” Mr Costello told Nine newspapers.
“I wasn’t angry. Just like you blokes here if you’re backing back, and there’s a placard behind you, you can walk into it. I’ve seen it happen a million times, I’ve seen it here at Parliament House a million times, reporters back into the bollards and fall over,” he said.
Mr Costello bluntly rejected any suggestion he assaulted the journalist.
“It’s not assault. As I said before he was backing backwards. He hit an advertising placard. I did not lay a finger or a fist or anything else”.
Mr Costello had been approached by Mendes, who works for The Australian, on Thursday afternoon, with video footage recording him asking the Nine chairman a series of questions.
“Mr Costello. My name is Liam Mendes, from The Australian, do you support Mike Sneesby as CEO and his handling of the Darren Wick saga?’’ he asks,
“Were you aware of the allegations against Mr Wick before he left Nine?”
As he continues to pepper him with questions Mr Costello does not respond.
Mendes then asks: “Well you’ve got to answer the questions, Mr Costello..”
Shortly after, Mr Costello appears to make physical contact with Mendes who can be heard saying, “Don’t, don’t”, before he falls to the ground.
After Mendes gets to his feet, he then continues his pursuit outside the airport and into a carpark.
“Journalists who worked for Nine approach people in this manner every day,’’ he said.
“Mr Costello, you can’t do that, you can’t do that, it’s all captured on camera,” the reporter said.
Witness Mark O’Hare, who was at the airport, told Mendes that he saw Mr Costello make contact with the journalist.
“I just saw this guy attack … and then I saw him (Mendes) on the floor with his s**t everywhere and then he (Costello) just went on his way, wandered off,” he said.
Mr O’Hare described Mr Costello as a “f..king big bloke, I didn’t realise how big he was.”
“He was flying through (at Mendes) like a sumo wrestler,” Mr O’Hare said.
Another male bystander said he witnessed the incident.
“I was just out having a smoke out the front,’’ he said.
When asked if he was OK, Mendes said, “I’m just a little bit shaken up.”
As the Nine chairman got into his car, Mendes asked: “Is that behaviour really appropriate to a journalist who’s working?”
Speaking on Sky News, host Steve Price said the video was concerning.
“Peter Costello is going to have to come out and explain why he felt it necessary to physically get into the face of Liam Mendes particularly,’’ he said.
“I mean, we’ve all lived with A Current Affair for our whole lives. Channel 9’s…cameramen and women out every day of the week doing exactly that. Is he is in a bit of strife here?.”
Journalist Sophie Elsworth said the footage “speaks for itself.”
“Just to set a few things straight. Liam Mendes very good reporter the Australian was doing his job today,’’ she said.
“There is some contact. the footage speaks for itself.
“This now warrants answers from Nine.”
A spokeswoman for Nine denied that Mr Costello had deliberately pushed the journalist.
“After arriving at Canberra Airport, the Chairman was confronted by a journalist from The Australian,’’ spokeswoman Victoria Buchan said.
“In the course of filming the Chairman while walking backwards, the journalist collided with an advertising placard and fell. At no point did the chairman strike the journalist.”
Mr Costello is the father of Nine reporter Seb Costello, who has made a name for himself on A Current Affair in a number of walking interviews including with high-profile AFL agent Ricky Nixon who was accused by Nine of “attacking” the A Current Affair reporter on the street.