Mark Latham Ordered To Pay $140,000 To Sydney MP Alex Greenwich Over Defamatory Tweet

By Michael James

The highly publicised defamation case between Out gay Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and expelled One Nation member Mark Latham has concluded in court today.

Earlier today in the Federal Court, Justice David O’Callaghan deemed that comments by Latham painted him as someone who “engages in disgusting sexual activities”.

Latham has now been ordered to pay Alex Greenwich $140,000 over the comments.

Greenwich was targeted with a barrage of homophobic and threatening messages after Latham posted homophobic tweets and “grooming” slurs against him in March 2023.

Alex Greenwich Vs Mark Latham

In 2023 Latham made a post on X (Twitter) that described Alex Greenwich as a “disgusting human being” after Greenwich condemned him over the attacks on peaceful LGBTQI protestors by around 250 far-right Christian men outside a Belfield Church where the One Nation leader was due to give a speech in March 2023.

The post came just a month after he had previously used a homophobic slur against Greenwich in a since-deleted tweet.

In response, on March 30, 2023, Latham tweeted: “Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your d*$# up a bloke’s a$#@ and covering it with s*#%?”

Greenwich said the tweet was defamatory and carried the imputation that the out gay MP “engages in disgusting sexual activities” or that he “is not a fit and proper person to be a member of the NSW Parliament because he engages in disgusting sexual activities.”

Following the post Greenwich initiated legal action against Latham for the content, deeming it defamatory. The comments by Latham were widely condemned with even One Nation leader Pauline Hanson calling on him to apologise.

However, when the case was heard on May 23rd this year Latham’s lawyers insisted that while the comments were “vulgar and shocking” they had not managed to damage his character.

“When it comes to serious harm, we can see a kind of… almost universal revulsion at the primary tweet, but that does not directly mark it as defamatory,” he said.

Greenwich testified to the personal toll the comments had taken on him. “Since this tweet was put out into the world… I have wanted it to go away. I’ve been in public life for a long time. I have during that time tried to just make the point that gay people are normal; we’re just like everybody else.”

The judgement issued today has now ruled in favour of Greenwich.

Mark Latham ordered to pay for comments

Lawyers for Latham maintained that the comments made were not defamatory, however still conceded their vulgar nature. They further argued that Latham had been publicly attacked first before publishing the comments.

Justice David O’Callaghan rejected the defence from Latham’s legal team. Instead, the judge ordered Latham to pay Greenwich $100,000 for non-economic loss. Further to this, he has been ordered to pay $40,000 in aggravated damages to the Sydney MP.

Lawyers for Greenwich detailed the personal effects of the comments on him, revealing he had suffered panic attacks following the comments which saw him receive death threats from members of the public.

This led him to cancel public appearances and re-evaluate whether he should continue his role in public office.

‘Tweet Was Personal And Sexually Agressive’

Following the judgement Greenwich expressed his relief and detailed the deep personal effects in an official statement.

“This victory is a major relief for me, my family, my staff, and the LGBTQ community. When Mr Latham published his Tweet, my life changed forever.”

“The Tweet was, effectively, a reductionist caricature of me which caused me enormous damage.”

“I took legal action to repair my reputation. Mr Latham’s Tweet was personal and sexually aggressive. I wanted to stand up for myself, the LGBTQ community, and my family, to send a clear message that these Trump-style personalised attacks on political opponents have no place in Australian public life.

“Mr Latham’s Tweet exposed me to hatred, contempt and ridicule. I was inundated with hateful, threatening and abusive emails, letters and phone calls. Some of these people have been charged with criminal offences and one has so far been convicted. Justice O’Callaghan even remarked that he might be “forgiven for being lost for words to characterise many of the Tweets and comments” in relation to Mr Latham’s post.

“This judgment makes Australia a safer place for me, my community, and my parliamentary colleagues. This judgment sends a clear message that you can’t attack a gay person based on their perceived sexual activities; you can’t cross the line when it comes to personalised political attacks, and you can’t just say whatever you like online without consequence.”

“The sad truth is the bullying and harassment that I experienced as a result of the Latham tweet is what LGBTQ people face every day in NSW, the state with the worst LGBTQ laws in Australia. I urge my parliamentary colleagues, especially the Premier, to stand with me and the entire LGBTQ community and improve this situation by backing my LGBTQ Equality Bill.”