Alex Greenwich has been subjected to “threats, repeated jibes, hatred, homophobic comments and contempt and ridicule” as a result of comments made by the New South Wales One Nation leader, Mark Latham, his lawyer has claimed in court documents.
The independent Sydney MP has filed defamation action against Latham in the federal court, with a statement of claim outlining the alleged impact that a graphic and “homophobic” tweet has had.
Latham, who has refused to apologise for the tweet, has yet to file any submissions in the case.
The initial tweet attracted widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum, including from the premier, Chris Minns, and One Nation’s federal leader, Pauline Hanson, who called for Latham to apologise for it.
In the statement of claim, Greenwich’s lawyers allege the original homophobic tweet was defamatory as it implies the politician was “not a fit and proper person to be a member of the NSW parliament” because he “engages in disgusting sexual activities”.
Greenwich was also allegedly the subject of dozens of negative tweets from other people after Latham made the comments, and that the ridicule increased after media reporting on the original tweet brought it to the attention of people who had no yet seen the comments, his lawyers said.
“As a consequence of the publication of the matters complained of, Mr Greenwich has received hate mail, hateful and/or threatening messages, and hateful and threatening telephone calls to his electorate office,” the court document reads.
Latham deleted the initial tweet, which was made in response to an article in which Greenwich called him “a disgusting human being”.
The article was about LGBTQ+ protesters being targeted outside an event Latham was speaking at.
In response, Latham said “disgusting?”, and made gratuitous comments about a sexual act that Guardian Australia has chosen not to publish in full.
In April Latham repeated the comments on radio and has refused to apologise.
Greenwich’s defamation claim has pointed to other comments Latham had made about him to the media, including comments he made in a Daily Telegraph story in April.
The lawyers alleged Latham knew and intended for the comments he made in the Daily Telegraph to be republished.
The claim alleges the comments Latham made about Greenwich to the newspaper implied Greenwich was not fit to serve in the parliament “because he goes to schools to groom children to become homosexual”.
Greenwich will also seek aggravated damages for Latham’s refusal to publicly apologise for posting the tweet after repeated calls to do so. On the 31 May, Latham tweeted: “never apologise, never explain”.
The lawyers claim this exposed the MP to further “hatred, contempt, and ridicule”.
Greenwich’s lawyers have argued that given Latham “doubled-down” on his comments after the initial tweet, he will continue to publish defamatory comments unless he is retrained from doing so by the court.
The matter will be heard in court for the first time on Friday.
Greenwich has separately lodged a complaint of homosexual vilification and sexual harassment against Latham and a police complaint.
