Steve Price: Peter Costello’s airport antics add to perception Nine is run by arrogant, overbearing men

Peter Costello’s rush of blood just adds to the perception that Nine — once owned by the Packer family and run by a series of hard drinking males — is still a business dominated by men who simply bulldoze their way through life.

Nine Entertainment chairman Peter Costello seemed to be imitating a dodgy plumber on Thursday afternoon as he stormed through Canberra airport.

Like the crook tradies on his flagship current affairs program — A Current Affair — the former Treasurer didn’t like having a camera shoved in his face.

Instead, the arrogant smirk — in the face of legitimate questions from Liam Mendes of the Australian newspaper — turned into an aggressive strut.

Mendes, and importantly at least two witnesses, claim the one-time mooted successor to Prime Minister John Howard appears to drop his right shoulder into the reporter.

Audio then records him laughing out loud.

Mendes hit the ground and called on Costello to explain why he had been assaulted.

Nine’s Chairman ignored him and kept walking to a waiting limousine to be driven to Parliament House. Ironically Costello was in Canberra to open a new office for his TV network in Parliament House.

Peter Costello strides through the Canberra airport with Liam Mendes’ camera in his face. Picture: The Australian

Costello denies striking the reporter. Picture: David Beach

In the corridors he knows so well he told the Canberra political reporters: “When I came through Canberra Airport there was a reporter walking backwards with his phone filming. As I walked past him, he walked back into an advertising placard. I did not strike him. If he’s upset about that I’m sorry.”

Upset!

The journalist was in a public place simply doing a job for his paper.

He copped a shirtfront from the Essendon supporting chairman of a publicly listed media company. A company embroiled in a series of shocking claims about its macho culture that led to its boss of news and current affairs, Darren Wick, being shown the door after a series of shocking allegations of sleazy behaviour toward women employees of the company Costello chairs.

At least one of the women told Sky News’ Sharri Markson she had complained about Wick to a Nine board member (not Costello), but nothing was ever done.

Public figures are often pursued by camera crews seeking comment on stories and media companies rightly complain and get angry if one of those cameramen or reporters is manhandled in any way.

Whatever way Costello tries to spin this confrontation, it could not come at a worse time for Nine. Their chairman’s rush of blood just adds to the perception that Nine — famously

once owned by the Packer family and run by a series of hard drinking males — is still a business dominated by arrogant, overbearing men who simply bulldoze their way through life.

Costello laughed when asked if the incident could put his chairmanship under threat and responded with one word — “rubbish.”

Time will tell.