Former NSW MP and mayor of Manly, Peter Macdonald has been charged with assault following an incident at Manly Village Public School on Sydney’s northern beaches on September 13.

A current Manly councillor, the 65-year-old has received two charges – assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

Dr Macdonald has denied the charges and says he will vigorously fight them in Manly Local Court next month.

"I was harassed by someone with an offensive sign outside a polling booth," Dr Macdonald told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"I attempted to remove the sign from him and he claimed that he was assaulted. That’s the fact and that will be tested in the court. I deny there was any assault at all and indeed I was the one that was subject to the harassment by a very offensive sign.

"The sign was suggesting that I am corrupt and I took deep offence to it," he said.

Dr Macdonald was the mayor who targeted alcohol-related violence in the main Manly promenade, The Corso.

Dr Macdonald previously served four terms on Manly Council and was Deputy Mayor from 1995 to 1996. He also represented Manly in the NSW State Parliament for eight years. 

He recently spent time working as a doctor in Iran, East Timor and Papua New Guinea and operates a general practice in Manly.