Jurassic Snark: Police investigate Liberal MP who ‘had an altercation with a man in a dinosaur suit’ on the campaign trail
- The men dressed as dinosaurs had a sign which read ‘Craig Kelly denialosaur’
- The climate change activist in the suit claims Kelly threatened to punch him
- Kelly, who’s a climate change sceptic, didn’t deny telling the dinosaur to ‘f**k off’
- The dinosaur made a statement and Miranda Police are now investigating
- Peter Thompson, the man in the T-rex suit, denies punching Mr Kelly
A climate change sceptic politician has rejected claims he threatened to punch an activist who dressed up in a dinosaur suit with a sign calling him a ‘denialosaur’.
Liberal MP Craig Kelly was approached by Peter Thompson, who was wearing a T-rex costume, at a Sydney train station on Wednesday.
Mr Thompson said he was trying to have a friendly conversation with Mr Kelly, but was met with abuse when he approached the Hughes MP.
Police are now investigating the incident.
Peter Thompson, the man in the T-rex suit, said he was trying to have a friendly conversation with Kelly, but was met with abuse when he approached the Hughes MP
‘I was just going to shake his hand, he swivelled around and said, ‘f**k off. If you approach me like that again, I’m going to punch you out’,’ Mr Thompson told the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Thompson said his version of events would be corroborated by CCTV footage from the train station, and described Mr Kelly’s behaviour as ‘very menacing and intimidating’.
Mr Kelly, however, denied accusations he raised his fist to Mr Thompson, claiming he was the one who was ‘harassed’.
Mr Thompson (in dinosaur suit) said his his version of events would be corroborated by CCTV footage from the train station, and described Kelly’s behaviour as ‘very menacing and intimidating’
‘I may have gesticulated and pointed but raising my fist? No,’ he told the St George Shire Standard.
‘He came up right behind me while I was handing out flyers and I turned around and told him to rack off and get out of my space.
‘We should be free to go about our jobs and not have people coming up and intimidating us.’
Kelly does admit to telling Mr Thompson to ‘f**k off’, as he felt his space was being invaded.
‘I was handing out flyers to the public, as every Member of Parliament does, and we should be free to do that without people dressed up in some kind of outfit sneaking up and trying to harass us in such a way that should be condemned,’ he said.
Liberal MP Craig Kelly denies threatening to punch a climate change activist who dressed up in a dinosaur costume with a sign saying ‘Craig Kelly denialosaur’
Mr Thompson and a colleague who witnessed the alleged incident have both made statements to Miranda police, saying Kelly threatened them with violence.
Wednesday morning’s incident isn’t the first time the T-rex has been spotted on the campaign trail, showing up to pre-polling booths and train stations in Kelly’s south Sydney electorate of Hughes.
Kelly has staunchly opposed climate change, even once arguing that renewable energy was causing child drownings because it was increasing the cost of operating swimming pools – making swimming lesson prices go up.
Craig Kelly has denied accusations he raised his fist to Mr Thompson, claiming he was the one who was ‘harassed’ when the dinosaur got too close to him