A landscaper’s claims that Malcolm Turnbull cut the queue at a pub have come into question after footage appears to show the prime minister strolling up to an empty bar and ordering a beer.
The heavily-edited footage, obtained by the Courier Mail, clearly shows Mr Turnbull approaching an empty bar before a colleague pays for his beer.
Brisbane tradesman Nick Gordon, who was fined $756 for showing Malcolm Turnbull the one-fingered salute at the Carindale Hotel before being escorted from the venue, has stood by his story in the face of the new video.
The defiant 26-year-old said the vision was ‘blurry’ and proved nothing, doubling down on his position that Mr Turnbull jumped the queue to order a drink.
A Brisbane landscaper who was fined $250 for giving Malcolm Turnbull the rude finger at a pub has attracted hundreds of dollars in crowd funding to fight his case
‘I can see like two people, but it’s just blurry cause I’m just looking on my phone, you know, it’s blurry,’ Mr Gordon told Daily Mail Australia.
He also noted that the video showed Mr Turnbull having one drink, whereas he could have approached the bar multiple times that night.
‘But that’s just like one video or just, a couple of videos. The bloke could have had like eight beers there, I don’t know,’ he said.
Mr Gordon said he maintained his position in spite of the Courier Mail’s video.
‘I’m going to stand up for my own beliefs, like, I don’t care if he’s the most powerful man in the world, like, you know. I’m going to stand up for my own rights.’
‘Of course I’m going to stand for my rights and say my own side. And like, I don’t care if he’s the PM, or if he’s just like a bum off the street. Like, he’s just a person,’ he said.
‘It’s become a joke. And right now, it’s freedom of speech,’ he said.
A spokesman for Queensland Police Service alleged Mr Gordon became abusive towards a group at the bar, believing they had wrongfully been served before him.
‘The man was immediately arrested and escorted from the hotel and was issued with an infringement notice for failing to leave a licenced premises,’ the spokesman said.
‘No one was threatened or injured at a result of this incident.’
Nick Gordon, also known as ‘Bluey’, was taken to a police watchdog on Thursday night after he did a one-finger salute in protest at the PM jumping the at Brisbane’s Carindale Hotel
A Go Fund Me page has so far raised $1.006 to pay his fine, leaving enough cash for Bluey to shout several rounds of beer for his mates Read more:
Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari set up the Go Fund Me appeal, after asking his 33,600 Twitter followers about the man who made gave a one-fingered to the prime minister
Mr Gordon, known as ‘Bluey’ by his mates, was taken to a police watch house on Thursday night after the stunt.
A Go Fund Me page has so far raised $1,006 to pay his fine, leaving enough cash for Bluey to shout several rounds of beer for his mates.
Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari yesterday set up the Go Fund Me appeal on Sunday, after asking his 33,600 Twitter followers about the man who made a one-fingered protest at a politics in the pub event.
‘Pitch in $5 and buy him a beer,’ he said.
‘Where are the free speech warriors on this?’.
Mr Dastyari told Daily Mail Australia he tracked Nick Gordon after a school friend of the landscaper contacted him on Facebook.
‘I did a call to action,’ he said.
The former federal Labor frontbencher, who was last year ambushed by far-right activists in a Melbourne pub, said he hoped to have Bluey appear with him on Sydney’s Kyle and Jackie O breakfast radio show on KIIS-FM.
A Queensland landscaper was detained by police on Thursday night after he ‘flipped the bird’ at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured)
Mr Dastyari’s crowd funding efforts on Twitter and Facebook divided his social media followers
Mr Dastyari’s crowd funding efforts on Twitter and Facebook divided his social media followers.
‘I say we shout this bloke a beer,’ one man said.
However, another man questioned whether this was a good cause to support.
‘If you’re feeling super generous, then use that money to feed a homeless family instead of some rude, drunken yobbo.’
The Prime Minister was at the Carindale Hotel in Brisbane for a politics at the pub event
One man praised the crowd funding for Bluey and suggested ‘we shout this bloke a beer’
However another man on Sam Dastyari’s Facebook page suggested there was a better cause
On Thursday night, Malcolm Turnbull had just ordered a Fat Yak craft beer from the bar when Bluey approached him.
A woman who was with the man said he ‘had a few to drink’ before he walked towards the prime minister, who was with the federal member for Bonner Ross Vasta and Liberal National Party members.
‘I just told him Malcolm Turnbull was here and he flipped,’ she told News Corp.
‘He said something about taxes and just went at him. He’s had a few to drink. I guess he’s going to the watch-house now.’
Personal security pushed the man away and told him to leave the pub immediately.
He was directed to an exit, he refused to leave and he then detained by the pub’s security.
Brisbane police arrived at the scene to detain the landscaper at a park bench.
Nick Gordon expressed his gratitude to Sam Dastyari’s crowd funding efforts.
‘Thanks mates, most appreciated,’ he posted on Facebook on Monday morning.
Nick Gordon expressed his gratitude to Sam Dastyari’s crowd funding efforts on Monday