'I'll apologise to the monkey': Man who heckled Sam Dastyari says he is not racist

One of the men who racially vilified Labor Senator Sam Dastyari at a Melbourne bar says it was not racist to call the Iranian-born politician a "monkey",  because "a monkey is not a race, it's an animal."

In an interview with A Current Affair, chippie Ricky Turner tried to claim his actions were justified.

"I'll give an apology to the monkey out there, because they're above Sam," he said.

"He's in the Senate, he's got to have some thick skin."

He also claimed Islamophobia didn't exist.

"There's no such thing as (sic) Islamophobic."

When pressed on the issue, he said "Well, that's your opinion."

In the video of Senator Dastyari's encounter, filmed by another member of Turner's nationalist group Patriot Blue, the group confronts Senator Dastyari at a university bar in Footscray, telling him to "go back to Iran", and labelling him a "terrorist".

The Senator had been there for a book event.

Mr Turner claimed his taunts were designed to get a reaction from the Senator.

"We wanted him to actually talk back and actually defend himself, and give us something," he said.

Senator Dastyari said these types of racist attacks were becoming more brazen in Australia.

"It's become increasingly acceptable for extremist views to be presented, and when you have people like Pauline Hanson out there doing the attacks on migrants, and ethnic communities, it's natural that those further to the right are going to feel like they're empowered," he said.

Watch the full story tonight on A Current Affair from 7pm, and catch up afterwards on 9now.