Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has videotaped a close encounter with a huge python near Port Douglas in north Queensland.
Mr Hockey can be heard urging friend and former Parramatta MP Ross Cameron to touch the snake, which is stretched out across a rural road and appears to be over 2m long.
"Just pull him a bit and he might curl up," he instructs Mr Cameron as he approaches the python from behind.
"You'll be right ... do it, do it, it's ok, he'll move."
But when the snake's tail is gently touched, the reptile springs to life and rears back at Mr Cameron.
Mr Hockey can be heard gasping as Mr Cameron jumps to avoid the snake before it calms down and slowly slithers away.
"There he goes," Mr Hockey says as his wife Melissa toots the car's horn.
Mr Hockey emailed the video, originally posted on YouTube, to friends under the subject line "Ok so I encouraged my mate to take a little risk".
But as his name or face does not feature in the footage, the Shadow Treasurer's office expressed surprise that the MP had been identified in the video when contacted this morning.
Mr Hockey said they decided to move the snake so that it wouldn't be run over by a car.
"Even snakes deserve to be rescued," he said.
He also paid tribute to his friend's bravery in approaching the python.
"That's what mates are for," Mr Hockey said.
A Queensland snake expert said the snake is likely to have been either a water python or a scrub python.
"As with all pythons, both species are non-venomous but those two can still give you a nasty bite", said Michael O'Brien, wildlife manager at Cairns Tropical Zoo.
"A snake that size has quite sizable teeth, measuring up to 10mm.
"I've been bitten by both in the past — and I can tell you it hurts!"
The 44-year-old Federal Opposition frontbencher is somewhat of a parliamentary daredevil when it comes to nature.
Last month, Mr Hockey reached the summit of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro.
He described the five-day trek up Africa's highest mountain as "easily one of the toughest things I have ever done in my life".
He also conquered the Kokoda Trail alongside political rival Kevin Rudd in 2006 despite arduous conditions.
"It is 100km, the equivalent of going up and down three quarters of Mount Everest," he told ABC Radio recently.
Mr Cameron, who was also the former parliamentary secretary to Peter Costello, lost the seat of Parramatta in 2004 after admitting he had cheated on his wife.
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