In his response letter, the pap - who revealed his name was Steve - seemed to take umbrage at the media figure describing him as a "creepy old man".
“Let me introduce myself – I’m Steve – and I’m the ‘creepy old man’ who photographed you sipping margaritas during a quiet dinner alone the other day in Melbourne. Who would have thought ‘that’ would turn into ‘this’?” he wrote in the letter published at Michael Smith News.
"Let’s deal with the ‘creepy old man’ reference first. I’m actually 10 years younger than you are, so, Lisa, what does that make you? An ‘old old woman’? Of course not, and shame on anyone who refers to you as that because it’s degrading, sexist and downright offensive.”
“You claim you were aware of a guy. ‘He was incredibly menacing. I saw him walk past half a dozen times, staring at me.’
“Really? Here’s the thing. I did not walk past you once. Hundreds of other people did though as you’d expect given where you were sitting – in the front window of a busy hotel on possibly Melbourne’s busiest street.
Steve continued, “If you were feeling so ‘totally violated’ by this ‘creepy old man’ who, I note, you’ve given no description of other than to say he did not have a camera, which makes no sense given you can’t take a photo without one, then why didn’t you move to the rear of the restaurant to escape the gaze of nosy onlookers?”
He went on to compare the journalist's work as the editor of Dolly Magazine which "embraced the sort of celebrity journalism which you now claim is intrusive, invasive and a breach of your privacy”.
“It is just nonsense," he continued. "Yes, I make a living out of taking pictures. It’s the same celebrity / entertainment journalism that pays your $2 million a year salary. Our platforms might be different but our jobs are similar,” he concluded, before demanding an apology from the star.
“So instead of the hypocrisy I think it’s time for some honesty -and perhaps even an apology. Sincerely Steve (aka creepy old man).”
Lisa Wilkinson has yet to publicly comment on the open letter.