Federal Member for Eden-Monaro Dr Peter Hendy was attacked when a fight broke out at Merimbula’s Twyford Hall on Tuesday morning, May 5.
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Dr Hendy was in town to launch his petition for better mobile phone coverage and to conduct local listening posts when a man became abusive and violent.
He attacked members of the public before turning towards Dr Hendy. A witness said the man threw a punch at Dr Hendy but fortunately Dr Hendy was able to get away unharmed. The police were called but the man left before they arrived.
Dr Hendy said he couldn’t believe that something like this happened.
“In all my time campaigning, I have had nothing like that. I know of things like this happening but did not expect it here,” Dr Hendy said.
“Some constituents were concerned about an issue and things got out of hand. A man started pushing around another gentleman.
“It got a bit heated with pushing and shoving but the man walked away before it got too out of control.”
A NSW Police spokeswoman responded to enquiries with the following statement.
“Police have responded to a report of an attempted assault at Merimbula today [Tuesday]. At about 9.30am police received reports that a 53-year-old man was approached by a man and a woman who allegedly tried to assault him on Market Street. Police from the Far South Coast were called however the couple had already left the scene. The man was not injured and no formal complaint has been made.”
After the incident it was business as usual for Dr Hendy who continued to talk to constituents for more than 20 minutes before continuing on to Eden to get more signatures for his petition.
Dr Hendy was asking all residents to sign his petition which he plans to take to Canberra to fight for further funding to invest in better mobile phone coverage.
