Mark Latham Loses His Appeal And Must Pay Alex Greenwich $140,000 For A Homophobic Tweet
Mark Latham has run out of road. The former One Nation MP has lost his appeal against a Federal Court ruling that he defamed independent New South Wales politician Alex Greenwich, and must now pay the openly gay MP $140,000 over a graphic, homophobic tweet.
Three judges of the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed Latham’s appeal, along with a cross-appeal from Greenwich. Justice Michael Wheelahan threw out both. The damages sit at $140,000, but once Greenwich’s legal costs are added, estimated at around $400,000, Latham’s bill creeps towards half a million dollars.
The pair return to court on 17 June to settle costs.
The tweet that started it
The post dates back to March 2023, during the NSW state election. Latham replied to a news article in which Greenwich had called him “a disgusting human being” by firing off an explicit tweet describing a sex act. A court found it defamatory in September 2024. Latham appealed. He lost.
The damage went well beyond one post
Greenwich has been open about what followed: an “avalanche of hate”, death threats, and a workplace that suddenly felt unsafe. His mental and physical health took a hit. When he spoke to us for DNA #310, he was clear about how he got through it. “You can’t let the haters win, and you also can’t do it alone,” he said.
This is not Latham’s only bill over that tweet. In April, a NSW tribunal ordered him to pay Greenwich a separate $100,000 for homosexual vilification and workplace sexual harassment, the maximum it could award. Latham branded that decision “a woke, left-wing political judgment” and is appealing it too.
For Greenwich, the result lands as vindication. He pursued the case, he has said, not only for himself but for everyone targeted the same way and told to take it on the chin. An audience of millions, it turns out, does not buy a free pass on homophobia.
