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MARK LATHAM ‘DEFENDED’ HIMSELF WITH HOMOPHOBIC TWEET ABOUT SYDNEY MP: COURT

Former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham was responding to “an attack” from MP
Alex Greenwich when he sent a homophobic tweet, a court has been told.

Nathan Schmidt

@Nate_R_Schmidty

4 min read
May 23, 2024 - 5:18PM
NCA NewsWire

MP Alex Greenwich, left, is suing former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham,
right.
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Former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham was “defending” himself when he
published a “crass and vulgar” tweet targeting Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, a court
has heard.

The Sydney MP launched defamation proceedings against the controversial and
newly-independent Mr Latham in May last year following a graphic and homophobic
tweet.

In a statement of claim, Mr Greenwich alleged Mr Latham painted him as “not a
fit and proper person” to be in parliament because he “engages in disgusting
sexual activities”.

He further alleged Mr Latham portrayed him as “a disgusting human being who goes
to school to groom children to become homosexuals” in a subsequent media
interview.

Appearing before a second day of hearings at the Federal Court on Thursday, Mr
Latham’s barrister, Mr Kieran Smark SC, said the “primary tweet was a striking
publication”.


Alex Greenwich is suing over a graphic and homophobic tweet. Picture: NewsWire /
Christian Gilles

Mark Latham is expected to argue the tweet was his “honest opinion”. Picture:
NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Mr Smark told the court Mr Latham was responding to “an attack” by Mr Greenwich
in a media interview where he called him a “disgusting human being”.

“He (Mr Latham) is addressing how he can be called a ‘disgusting human being’
when … he’s saying he finds the conduct of LGBTQ+ people disgusting,” he said.

“Mr Latham had no basis to know what sort of sexual conduct Mr Greenwich himself
engaged in, or whether he engaged in sexual conduct at all.

“He was putting forward, by way of defence … the disgusting conduct that he
could see in all this was the fact that gay men engaged in the conduct
described.”



Mr Smark later added: “Although it’s a graphic response to vulgar response (by
Mr Latham), that doesn’t mean it’s a disproportionate response.

Mr Smark said a “reasonable person” would know Mr Latham’s was expressing his
own opinions, and that the imputation of his political ability was “tangential”.

He earlier described other tweets by Mr Latham about the same time as
“offensive, crass, and vulgar”, but stated that did not make them defamatory in
nature.

“What we say globally is that Mr Latham’s primary tweet may have wounded Mr
Greenwich, but it did not wound his reputation,” Mr Smark told the court.

He later added: “We can see a kind of almost universal – or not quite universal
– revulsion at the primary tweet, but that does not directly mark it is
defamatory”.

Mr Greenwich’s barrister Matt Collins KC said Mr Latham’s statements were
“pregnant with innuendo”.

“It is plainly not a tweet about homosexual sex. It’s a tweet about a particular
and unhygienic sex act,” Dr Collins said at the start of his closing address on
Thursday.

“To suggest that it is to be equated to being homosexual is something we would
not expect to hear in one of His Majesty’s courts in the third decade of the
21st century.

“People understood Mr Latham to be saying exactly what he said in the tweet:
that Mr Greenwich he engages in the particular disgusting and hygienic sexual
act.”

Mr Smark said the defamation action would have to prove the imputations, that
they were defamatory, and that there was serious harm or the likelihood of it.


Alex Greenwich with barrister Dr Matt Collins KC, left. Picture: NewsWire /
Christian Gilles

He told the court acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in Australia had been
revolutionary “due in part to work of people like the applicant”, referring to
Mr Greenwich.

He described vitriolic messages directed at the MP after the tweet as being from
people who were “vile filth”, and “drawing from a wellspring of prejudice”.

Nonetheless, he said their actions did not reflect a “change in their internal
perception of the reputation” of Mr Greenwich because of Mr Latham’s tweet.

“It’s not a trivial thing that happened and we’re not saying it was trivial in
its impact on Mr. Greenwich,” Mr Smark told Justice David O’Callaghan on
Thursday.

“The fact that people felt motivated to make homophobic attacks on the applicant
… it doesn’t follow that they’re expressing the standards of the general
community.”

Much of his opening address, which will continue on Thursday, spoke to the legal
thresholds for proving defamation, including understanding the meaning of the
tweet.


Mark Latham was invited to speak about religious freedoms at the church in
Belfield. Picture: Facebook

Instead, the riot squad was called after more than 500 people turned up to
protest outside. Picture: Facebook

Mr Latham described Mr Greenwich as “disgusting” and made crude comments about
anal sex in the so-called primary tweet, which was removed after just 2.5 hours
online.

Taking the stand on Wednesday, Mr Greenwich told the court he took legal action
because he “wanted the hate and abuse to stop” and that he had considered
leaving public life.

He described the imputation of the comments as being a “justification of the
attack” on him and said the tweet, as in his statement of claim, had “saddened
me and angered me”.

Under cross examination, he defended calling Mr Latham a “disgusting human
being” who was “extremely hateful and dangerous” in an interview days before the
tweet.


Mark Latham, centre, with barrister Mr Kieran Smark SC, left. Picture: NewsWire
/ Christian Gilles

He denied accusations he expected a response from the comment and reiterated
claims he had felt unsafe in public and at his office because of abuse following
the tweet.

The first day of hearings otherwise largely focused on the events leading up to
the tweet, namely a protest by LGBTQ+ activists of a speaking event by Mr Latham
at a Sydney church.

Dr Collins told the court Mr Latham had, in statements after the riot, accused
Mr Greenwich of instigating the protest, which he said the Sydney MP was not
involved in.

He said Mr Latham had “got the facts hopelessly wrong” and had condemned in
later statements co-called “transgender radical left wing activists” for
sparking the riot.

The hearing continues on Friday.

 * 
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