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Australian journalists from CNN affiliate Channel 7 news were attacked by riot police in Washington, DC, on Monday, prompting Prime Minister Scott Morrison to ask for an investigation into the "troubling incident."
During a live morning newscast on the program Sunrise on Tuesday in Australia, riot police used their shields to clear 7NEWS US correspondent Amelia Brace and cameraman Tim Myers from the scene.
The video shows riot police hitting Myers and punching his camera, another officer then directs the pair, who was trapped against a wall, to move on, before appearing to smack Brace in the back with a baton.
Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said that Morrison had "contacted the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC on Tuesday instructing them to investigate the 'troubling' incident and provide further advice on registering the Australian government's concern."
Payne added in an interview with Radio National on Tuesday that "I want to get further advice on how we would go about registering Australia's strong concerns with the responsible local authorities in Washington."
Australia's Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade "reached out to Amelia and to Tim, the Channel Seven team, to check on their wellbeing through the embassy and Channel Seven here in Australia," Payne said.
On Tuesday morning in an interview with Sunrise after the incident, Brace told the anchors that "we have regrouped, we are not too bad."
"It is actually the tear gas that gets you the most, it is very hard to continue speaking in that situation. But yeah we are a bit sore, I also managed to get a rubber bullet to the backside and Tim got one in the back of the neck. So we will have a few bruises tomorrow, but we are feeling perfectly safe," she said.
"There was no escape at that moment, we had the nat guard behind us the police coming through so quickly there was nowhere for us to go," Brace added.