The elusive Mr Shaw recently sat down for a rare chat with the North Albury coach for online publication The New Daily.

Akermanis described Mr Shaw as a mate of several years with an identical mentality to himself.

“We always chat and we were just having a bit of fun, and he said why don’t we do an online article together,” he said.

“We met a few years ago — I think I was doing some event at the time.

“He came over and had a chat and invited me to Parliament to have dinner.

“I thought ‘what a bloody interesting fella this guy is, he’s got an identical mentality to what I have’.

“We hit it off and we’ve been mates ever since.”

Akermanis laughed when asked if he had landed a major scoop.

“Politics is not really my forte at all, I try to stay out of it,” he said.

“I just don’t like seeing people getting bullied.

“I’ve been bullied by the AFL and by the clubs.

“In my opinion, the people in the Melbourne media are bullying him.”

Mr Shaw told Akermanis he had lost confidence in the government, intended to recontest his seat if expelled, and was the victim of a personal vendetta.

Akermanis said he wasn’t interested in running for politics himself... “they’re little kids running around, arguing, debating, and not doing anything for anyone,” he said.