John Barilaro charged over alleged assault, malicious damage offences after tussle with news cameraman
Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro has been charged over the alleged assault of a news cameraman in Sydney.
The tussle which Barilaro has been charged over occurred outside a bar in Manly on July 23 while Barilaro was out with friends.
NSW Police served a Future Court Attendance Notice to Barilaro via his legal representatives for “alleged assault and malicious damage offences” around 2pm today.
Barilaro is expected to appear in Manly Local Court on October 12.
After the alleged incident Barilaro said that he was a victim of sustained and unjustified media harassment after ongoing attention over his controversial posting to a US trade job.
“To come out in the dark and to have a camera shoved in your face, a microphone in your face,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB last month.
“At that point, you know, I asked him to ‘just to walk away, I’ve got nothing to say.'”
Footage of the incident showed a scuffle between Barilaro and the cameraman while members of the public surrounded the pair.
“All I did was push a camera out of my way, I did not manhandle an individual,” Barilaro said.
The former Monaro MP has been in the spotlight for weeks after he was appointed to a plum government trade role in New York, which came with a $500,000 salary.
He has since withdrawn from the job and a parliamentary inquiry into the appointment process is continuing.
An independent parliamentary report commissioned by the NSW premier has also been handed down and found the appointment process was “flawed” and made numerous recommendations.
