‘Contradicting’: James Paterson calls out James Ashby for comments on polling confrontation

Shadow Defence Minister James Paterson has addressed the alleged inconsistency between One Nation Chief of Staff James Ashby’s public comments about a campaign poster dispute and reports of a private apology.

“Well, I’m scratching my head because the One Nation volunteers who are on the booth who witnessed it came up to me and immediately apologised to me after the incident,” he told Sky News Australia.

“About half an hour later, James Ashby called me and put David Farley on the phone, and both of them apologised to me.

“Something’s going on in One Nation; they’ve both contradicted each other many times on policy … but now they’re contradicting each other on apologies as well.

“I know James Ashby was speaking figuratively when he said I need a kick up the backside, but I really hope none of the One Nation volunteers takes that literally because the last thing we need is violence on polling booths in Australia.”