NSW premier's security drags off reporter

A journalist and former Greens activist has been manhandled by the NSW premier's security detail during a photo opportunity in the state's north.

The man, who identified himself as a reporter, pushed his way into a photo opportunity. (AAP)

A journalist and former Greens activist has been dragged away from a press event by the NSW premier's security detail while screaming "why can't a journalist ask a question?"

Gladys Berejiklian was announcing an upgrade to the Brunswick Heads Surf Club on Wednesday when Jim Beatson, who identified himself as a reporter for Bay FM, pushed his way into a photo opportunity.

Beatson was then manhandled by the premier's security staff and pushed into a nearby room while he continued to shout.

Other people could be heard shouting out: "Ask the question!" in a video posted on social media.

Beatson on Wednesday evening told AAP the question was about koala habitats in Byron Bay.

Once forced into the room, the 73-year-old continued to push against the plain-clothed police officer while saying he wanted to ask the premier a question, a second video shows.

"I did it in a polite way but immediately I was propelled backwards by her staff including this gentleman here," Beatson says in the video.

Beatson said he and his employer were considering their actions but described the incident as "a nonsense".

"I think photo-ops are a denial of the meaning of journalism," he told AAP.

"They're a mechanism to prevent local reporters and, to be honest, we get very few opportunities to interview a premier."

Beatson co-founded Brisbane youth radio station 4ZZZ in 1975 before a lengthy career as a newspaper journalist.

He has advocated progressive politics and, in 2012, was a Greens candidate for Byron Shire Council.

He was escorted from a Byron Bay Council meeting two years later after shouting at a councillor, according to local newspaper reports at the time.

In a Bay FM audio archive from August 2018, Beatson is heard confronting Ms Berejiklian at another press conference over the same koala issue.

"The negative to being a reporter is it's considered bad form to be continually interrupting the speaker as they wander off into poli-speak or mistruths," he tells the audience.

NSW Police confirmed a specialist officer intervened on Wednesday but did not arrest Beatson.

"Officers removed the man from the location to prevent any further breach of the peace," a spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday.