A tweet posted by NSW One Nation MP Mark Latham was deemed so “depraved” that even those who have for years aided and abetted his hateful rhetoric directed at the LGBTQIA+ community have been forced to condemn him.
On Thursday, Latham posted a graphic homophobic tweet directed at independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, who is gay, after Grenwhich branded Latham a “disgusting human being” following the One Nation politician’s efforts to target members of the LGBTQIA+ community through the NSW election campaign.
Greenwich said he doesn’t expect an apology from Latham, and that Latham’s hateful tweet should offer renewed urgency in the pursuit of LGBTQIA+ reforms in NSW Parliament. Greenwich said he will not engage with Latham in the new Parliament.
“We’re talking about a person who adopts the cruelest politics from the US and tries to impose it in NSW Parliament. I’ve described him as a cruel and lazy person,” Greenwich told ABC Radio National Friday morning. “I don’t intend to engage with the content of the tweet, nor do I intend to really engage with him in the next Parliament.”
At a press conference later on Friday morning, Greenwich said he was grateful for the support of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called the “hateful speech” concerning on 10 News, along with NSW Premier Chris Minns, who called Greenwich to offer support.
Greenwich said he hopes Latham is “doing okay”, suggesting the comments in the tweet were not those of a “well person”. The tweet on Thursday isn’t the first time Latham has openly directed hateful comments at the LGBTQIA+ community.
The One Nation politician showed reluctance to distance himself from the Christian Lives Matter protest groups whose members recently attacked LGBTQIA+ protesters, and has on various occasions spouted racist and homophobic comments in Parliament.
Latham’s form on the matter can be traced back to his 2019 maiden speech to NSW Parliament, where he branded matters of gender, sexuality and race as “primitive” issues unique to a “new left” intent on controlling others.
The rhetoric has long been a core tenet of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party platform. On Thursday, Hanson released a video statement posted to Twitter, in which she walked back her support for Latham, whose tweet she said does not have her support, nor that of her party colleagues.
“I think they are disgusting,” Hanson said. “I’ve actually tried to ring Mark, a couple of times to no avail. And I have clearly sent a text message to him, telling him my views, and also I’ve asked him to give the people an apology.”
In August 2020, Hanson stood behind Latham as he tried to launch a legislative attack on the LGBTQIA+ community across the NSW school curriculum. The bill in effect sought to erase all acknowledgement of gender diversity from schools across the state, along with inclusion programs and counselling offered to sexuality- and gender-diverse students.
In a speech Latham gave to Parliament on the bill’s second reading, he said the bill threatened to strip teachers of their accreditation and employment should they fall afoul of the law.
“The purpose of the [bill] is to legislate two decisions: to outlaw gender fluidity teaching, course development and teacher training in the New South Wales education system; and to reassert the rights and role of parents in the moral, ethical, political and social development of their children, such that no school should be teaching material in those fields against the wishes of parents,” Latham said.
Sky News, back when Alan Jones still sat in the hot seat, lent its platform to Latham in his efforts to scrub any trace of diversity from the NSW education system, and Latham was given a long leash to also indulge in COVID-19 conspiracy theories live on air.
Latham has long been a mainstay of the Murdoch-controlled news channel. Just this month, the network’s Paul Murray hosted him in the lead-up to the election, where the One Nation politician was allowed to run riot on how major parties have “deserted common sense”.
But during a Thursday evening Sky News broadcast this week, host Andrew Bolt changed tack. He joined Greenwich and other critics in condemning Latham’s tweet, which he said only “a scumbag would write”, before telling viewers the politician would never be back on his show. Latham had most recently appeared as a guest last week.
