Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack has been involved in an altercation outside a Canberra venue.
Sky News aired the footage, filmed by political editor Andrew Clennell out the front of the Eastlake Football Club in Kingston after last night's NRL State of Origin game, showing Mr McCormack arguing with an irate group of men.
The MP was at the venue with Coalition colleagues, including Opposition leader Angus Taylor, when the argument broke out.
"You do need to be careful as a politician," Mr McCormack told Sky on Thursday.
"It was an awkward, ugly situation. I tried to defuse it, I'm glad it de-escalated."
He said he had asked staff to remove one of the men at half time "because he was totally out of control" and was "threatening to expose himself in the club".
"I'd asked the staff to remove him," Mr McCormack said.
"There were women near me who were quite worried and quite disturbed."
He said he exited the venue and "the bloke followed".
"He started to abuse me, he then started to urinate, wanted to urinate at the right near the steps, and I said, 'Mate, there's women going to come out of the club'.
"And, being a country gentleman - I hadn't had a drink all night, only hot chocolate and ginger ale - I said, 'Mate, you can't do that here, you just can't do that here'.
"At which point he ... was going to want to take my head off."
He said he was not willing to "let that behavior go unchallenged, whether they're drunk or not".
"If that's the behavior that you accept, then that's the behavior you tolerate, and you can't tolerate that.
"And men should step up and speak out whenever that sort of behavior is shown and done in public."
In relation to a Queensland supporter heard shouting expletives about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mr McCormack speculated that the men were "probably tradies, upset with the budget".
But, he said, people needed to "respect the office" of the Prime Minister.
In the video, the Nationals MP can be heard imploring one of the men to "calm down, calm down", as he continues shouting obscenities.
Liberal MP Tony Pasin can also be seen trying to calm down the situation.
