Paterson’s video stunt the Coalition’s One Nation crisis writ small

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Australians can trust that spats outside polling booths and fights over political posters will signal when election day is around the corner.

Usually, these disputes involve volunteers. Sometimes local candidates. They don’t usually implicate senior politicians (although it has happened before).

Wednesday’s addition to the genre was a rare example of the latter, as Liberal Senator James Paterson – one of Angus Taylor’s senior shadow ministers and a party powerbroker – filmed his clash with a One Nation volunteer outside a booth in Albury just days before the Farrer byelection.

Unlike most viral moments that emerge from the silliness and thick emotion of pre-poll booths, this three-minute snippet was telling of the dynamics at play ahead of polling day.

The substance of the two men’s disagreement, according to the video footage, was whether it mattered that One Nation candidate David Farley previously tried to stand for Labor.

‘That’s assault’: One Nation volunteer grabs Liberal senator’s phone in clash outside polling booth

It is unclear how the interaction began, but Paterson filmed their verbal sparring for two minutes, including some colourful name-calling from the One Nation volunteer. The man, who seemed unaware he was being recorded, turned away from the conversation at........

© Brisbane Times