Councillor Lynda Summers claimed that at this point, both Thaler and his friend sought to apprehend the person who had snatched the phone.
Summers, who is a former police officer, says a staff member pulled the three men apart and she stepped in to keep things calm. “My instincts kicked in. That defused the situation in the moment, but a short time later, Thaler returned and pushed him in the chest. It was completely unprovoked,” she alleged.
The arm of the man who had grabbed the phone was injured and bled. It is not clear exactly how the man’s arm came to be injured.
An excerpt from one of the banning notices sent to Thaler by several premises in Nimmitabel and Cooma last yearCredit: Fairfax Media
In Councillor Tanya Higgins’ recollection, the man told the person allegedly filming him, “I’m Aboriginal and I do not give my consent”, but his objection was ignored so he grabbed the phone and tried to put it on a desk. The owner of the phone and Thaler each grabbed one of the man’s arms.
She said Summers and another person intervened, and then Thaler returned and appeared to push the man. “[The man was left with a] gouge in his arm, and it’s bleeding,” Higgins told the Herald. “It all happened so quickly.”
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Police took statements from those at the scene, but no charges have been laid.
Thaler published a video giving his version of events on Friday morning. He said the man was being “really aggressive” and snatched his friend’s camera and “went to run for the exit”, so “I moved across the room and prevented [him] from leaving the room,” Thaler told his followers.
Thaler and his friend each held one of the man’s arms, “so that he couldn’t swing a punch,” said Thaler. “I was attacked by a range of people … we were able to control [the scene] and get the phone back.” The man they held “sustained a cut to his arm … it was dripping blood, dribbling blood, and he intimated it was my fault.”
He accused the man of wiping his blood on him, and showed the blood on his arm to his followers before swabbing it and putting it in a bag to offer as evidence.
Thaler was elected to Snowy Monaro Regional Council in September with 111 first-preference votes, despite a history of harassing members of the community, particularly women, on his social media accounts. He is now running for the federal seat of Eden Monaro as an independent.
NSW upper house National Party MP Nichole Overall – who has, like many female leaders in the region, been the subject of crude insults by Thaler (he once described has been described as a “gross, wallowing in the trough, pig”) – recently told NSW parliament that his behaviour undermined the integrity of local government.
Thaler responded on social media, writing, “No convictions Bitch”, as well as a series of other disparaging remarks about the MP.
In a statement, police confirmed they were called to the Cooma council building at 6pm on Thursday, and were told three men – aged 52, 59 and 64 – had a physical altercation, in which one sustained a minor arm injury. Police are investigating.
When asked if he had further comment, Thaler told the Herald; “I have a lawyer. Go f— yourself.”
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