Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee has hit out at a veteran Canberra journalist, accusing him of "mansplaining" after she was caught giving him the middle finger.
But she has said her behaviour was inexcusable.
Ms Lee gave the middle finger to RiotACT journalist Ian Bushnell following a testy press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The gesture was made following the press conference and was caught on camera by the ABC. Bushnell did not appear to see the one-fingered salute.
Bushnell has asked Ms Lee whether it was "a bit late in the day" to be attacking Chief Minister Andrew Barr over "opaque budgets".
There was back-and-forth between the pair after Ms Lee hit out at Chief Minister Andrew Barr for not submitting all costings.
The exchange ended by Bushnell saying he wanted her to answer the question.
"Are you finished or not? I will answer the question in my own way, Ian. You don't get to dictate how I answer the question," Ms Lee said.
The Canberra Liberals leader has apologised for the gesture but on Thursday morning she doubled down on her criticism of Bushnell. She said the interruptions had frustrated her and she likened it to "mansplaining".
"There just seemed to be this interjection from the beginning which told me it didn't matter what I was going to say that I felt like I was not going to be believed or listened to," she told ABC radio.
"The underlying, kind of, being over the mansplaining, being over the being interrupted a number of times, it just bubbled up but in saying that, I shouldn't have done it and I accept that it was poor behaviour."
Ms Lee said she believed there was "underlying misogyny", saying she had been told by others Bushnell did not treat Mr Barr in the same manner. She said she was treated in this way at almost every press conference.
"I've already had a number of people who reached out and believe that there is an underlying misogyny there, most notably from other journos who have told me very quietly that he hasn't treated Andrew Barr in the same way," she said.
"So that's what they've observed. I don't know because I obviously haven't been to Andrew Barr's press conferences."
Bushnell responded to the furore on Thursday morning in an interview with the RiotACT, saying he was just doing his job.
"I reject any suggestion of being unprofessional. As a practising journalist, I'm there to ask questions on behalf of the public. For me, it gets frustrating when politicians evade or deflect questions," Mr Bushnell said.
"Ms Lee is the only politician I've had these sorts of exchanges with. I'm on good terms with everyone else, and I thought I was on good terms with her."
When contacted Bushnell declined to respond to Ms Lee's comments about "mansplaining" and "underlying misogyny". He later penned an opinion piece saying Ms Lee had "attempted to blacken" his name and she had played "the sexist card".
"What if the genders had been reversed?", Bushnell wrote.
Bushnell has worked in the media for nearly three decades and was previously a news editor at The Canberra Times. Former Region Media group editor Genevieve Jacobs posted on social media, in response to an article, he "doesn't have a misogynist bone in his body".
But Ms Lee's political foes have said the behaviour was not uncommon from the Opposition Leader.
Mr Barr said he was not surprised by the behaviour.
"In the end this is not a particular surprise. Anyone who's watched question time in the Assembly, anyone who watched the leaders' debate would see that just bubbling below the surface is a little bit of a risk of this sort of thing," he said.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said he was shocked to see Ms Lee's actions on Wednesday but it reminded the Greens of Ms Lee's behaviour in the Assembly.
"I'm sure she is feeling very regretful about it today. It's not something that I think the Canberra community would expect to see from somebody leading a major political party," Mr Rattenbury said.
"But certainly from my own experience with my colleagues in the Assembly, it reminds us of the conduct we do see from Ms Lee in the Assembly on a regular basis. And so perhaps the Canberra community will get a greater exposure to that through this incident."
Mr Rattenbury said the Canberra Liberals displayed an "aggressive style" of politics that was "quite focused on attacking individuals".
But the Chief Minister has had his own run-ins with the media. In 2018 he told an event with communications specialists he hated journalists and was over the mainstream media.
"I hate journalists. I'm over dealing with the mainstream media as a form of communication with the people of Canberra. What passes for a daily newspaper in this city is a joke and it will be only a matter of years before it closes down," Mr Barr said.
A recording of the event was leaked to The Canberra Times. Mr Barr was asked about these comments.
"We are all human and campaigns and the pressure of office come to bear on everything that is a fact of life," she said.
Mr Barr said he understood election campaigns were stressful and Ms Lee would be under pressure but he said that was part of being in government.
"Election campaigns are hard and stressful and they put everyone under an enormous amount of pressure. Leaders of political parties probably bear the greatest burden in that regard," he said.
"Over the course of the campaign, you learn a lot about how individuals respond to immense pressure. I can understand why the Canberra Liberals leader would be frustrated given everything that has gone wrong in their campaign."
Mr Barr said leaders had to expect tough questions from journalists.
Even federal politicians have had their say on the matter.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles called the gesture a "pretty extraordinary contribution to the political discourse".
"I've had my share of frustrations in press conferences. Look, this is a difficult job. It's obviously important we seek to manage our emotions in that moment," he told ABC News Breakfast.
with Jasper Lindell
