Former One Nation Senator Rod Culleton has fronted the media in an awkward attempt to explain an altercation with a One Nation member in Perth on Tuesday evening.
The embattled senator, who now serves as an Independent, said he was recovering following the “hostile” scuffle outside the Perth Magistrates Court which left him “hurt”.
“It was an incident that I didn’t know was coming neither did I expect it,” Senator Culleton said. “I just think it was a very callous act.”
The quarrel began when former Liberal state MP Anthony Fels – who is hopeful Pauline Hanson will let him have a tilt as a One Nation candidate in the upcoming WA state election - tried to serve Senator Culleton with a creditors’ petition.
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“I need to make this very, very clear to the media, I have never been in business with these guys [and] I do not owe these guys any money,” Senator Culleton said.
Although admitted to the Royal Perth Hospital on Tuesday evening the controversial senator was later released, cleared of a suspected broken wrist and is resting at home.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said she was not impressed with the fight, but the matter was not the business of her party and insisted Mr Fels was not yet a candidate.
"The party has not been registered yet, until we get the registration through, so that's not the case,” Senator Hanson said.
On Wednesday Senator Culleton appeared with a bandage on his hand, although he refused to show it to the media.
“I’m sore, I’m still very sore," he said.
"My throat is very sore, I got obviously hit in the throat [and] my neck’s sore, my right side of my shoulder’s sore.
“I’m not a hypochondriac… I’m not here to show my injuries,” he said, asking his wife to stand by his side in front of the press.
It has not been an easy few months for Senator Culleton.
After running in the July election with a larceny conviction against his name, he now faces a High Court determination on whether he’s eligible to be a member of the upper house at all.
Adding pressure to that already pending court situation, in December Senator Culleton was declared bankrupt after a hearing in the Federal Court.
Under section 44 of the constitution a senator, if declared bankrupt, is disqualified from serving in the senate.
"I am not bankrupt, ok? You'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out," Senator Culleton said.
The drama was caught on tape with Senator Culleton seen taking his jacket off and shaping up to his alleged attacker.
“That jacket happens to be one of my favourite jackets … I took it off because I wanted to protect my family,” Senator Culleton said, after denying that he was gearing up to fight.
While in hospital the senator said he was visited by the police who took an official statement.
Influential Independent senator Nick Xenophon said voters were tiring of his “incredibly messy” situation.
"There is a level of behaviour in the Senate that the Australian people expect," he told reporters in Canberra.
"I like the guy, his heart's in the right place, but I think people are getting sick of the melodrama," he told reporters in Adelaide.
"I hope Rod can sort out his issues sooner rather than later for the sake of the people of WA and the sake of the Senate."
