PROMINENT Border unionist Chip Eling, who was assaulted during an altercation with a voter an early polling booth last week, says "there was provocation on both sides" and would not push for criminal charges.
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Mr Eling, speaking outside Albury hospital where he was treated for a broken hip, said he wanted the matter to be over.
"He made a smartarse remark to me, and I made a smartarse remark to him and that's one of the reasons I'm not pressing charges," he said.
"The reality is that he shouldn't have pushed me. It was assault, it did me a bit of damage, but the thing about it is, he and I were both very unlucky because, if he pushed me where I'm standing now, I would have simply stepped back and it would have been the end of the incident.
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"But because he pushed me and I tripped backwards off the kerb, I went down on the ground and that's what fractured my hip."
Mr Eling said he accepted some blame for the incident but didn't want the matter to be drawn out for weeks.
"He could reasonably claim that I provoked him but the thing is, there was provocation on both sides," he said.
"I don't see why he should cop a criminal charge. To be cynical about it, I don't want to give them oxygen - I don't want them to be on the front page of The Border Mail being found guilty and sentenced to three months in jail for assault.
"Let's just let it go."
Labor candidate for Benambra Mark Tait said Mr Eling had been shoved by a man who had tried to engage in an argument about COVID lockdowns.
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