Mark Latham has failed to overturn a court decision ordering him to pay independent MP Alex Greenwich $140,000 over a homophobic tweet. The former Labor leader was in 2024 ordered to pay the sum after he was found to have exposed Mr Greenwich to “hatred, contempt and ridicule” by posting the homophobic tweet.
Ruling in favour of Mr Greenwich, the court found Mr Latham’s tweet conveyed the meaning that Mr Greenwich “engaged in disgusting sexual activities”. The former Labor leader sought to have the judgment thrown out on appeal before the Federal Court; however, justices Craig Colvin, Michael Wheelahan, and Wendy Abraham on Wednesday dismissed the appeal.
Mr Latham claimed the judge presiding over the 2024 high-profile defamation battle made mistakes in finding the tweet was defamatory and implied Mr Greenwich “engages in disgusting sexual activities”. Mr Greenwich also sought to have a finding overturned that the tweet did not imply he was “not a fit and proper person to be a member of the NSW parliament because he engages in disgusting sexual activities”; however, his cross-appeal was also dismissed by the Federal Court on Wednesday.
Justice is a long game
Mr Greenwich said “justice prevailed” in response to the court’s decision on Wednesday, saying the last few years had been “tough” in a statement sent to NewsWire. “Justice is a long game. More than three years ago, Mr Latham defamed me in a sexually aggressive social media post that subjected me to an avalanche of homophobic hate,” Mr Greenwich said in a statement following the court’s decision. “He failed to take responsibility for his actions. Today, justice prevailed: his appeal has been dismissed and the judgment in my favour upheld. This has been a tough few years, and I’m deeply grateful for the support of my husband, family, friends, colleagues, staff and mental health professionals. This is an important judgment at a time when politics is too often charged with divisive vitriol.”
The tweet was made in the wake of Mr Latham’s invitation to speak at a Catholic Church in southwestern Sydney, where about a dozen LGBTQI protesters were involved in a “violent” confrontation with counter protesters from the Christian Lives Matter group, a court was previously told. Mr Greenwich was later quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as describing Mr Latham as “a disgusting human being”. Mr Latham replied to a tweet about Mr Greenwich’s comments with a vulgar depiction of a sex act. The tweet was deleted after a few hours, but in the time it remained online it was seen 6171 times.
The court was previously told that as a result of the incident, Mr Greenwich’s electoral office received a stream of messages, some of which contained homophobic slurs. Justice David O’Callaghan described the messages as “vile”, “offensive”, “in some cases confusing”, “threatening” and “deranged” in his 2024 judgment. Mr Greenwich also received a letter at his parliamentary office in October 2023 that was so concerning he made a complaint to police.
The homophobic tweet was also the subject of proceedings in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal along with subsequent statements by Mr Latham. The Tribunal ruled in Mr Greenwich’s favour last month, ordering Mr Latham to pay the independent MP $100,000 in compensation and to remove any online material that vilified Mr Greenwich on the basis of his sexuality.
