Mark Latham Must Pay Alex Greenwich $100,000 For Homosexual Vilification
Former One Nation MP Mark Latham has been ordered to pay openly gay independent MP Alex Greenwich $100,000, after the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled on 30 April that a 2023 tweet and related media statements amounted to homosexual vilification and workplace sexual harassment under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act.
It is the maximum damage the tribunal can award. Latham must also cover Greenwich’s legal costs and delete any social media posts that vilify Greenwich based on his sexuality, within 24 hours.
The tweet that started it
On 30 March 2023, Latham fired off a sexually explicit tweet about Greenwich, the NSW Member for Sydney, in retaliation for a Sydney Morning Herald article in which Greenwich described Latham as “a disgusting human being” following an alleged anti-trans speech at a One Nation event.
Tribunal members Amanda Tibbey and Maryanne Maher described the tweet as “verbal blows” against a political opponent, insults of a crude and gross type, likely to goad or encourage base emotions, including hatred, serious contempt for and/or severe ridicule of the applicant on the ground of his homosexuality.”
The fallout went well beyond the post itself. The tribunal heard the tweet “unleashed a campaign of terror and harassment”, with police making an arrest and electoral office staff wearing gloves to open mail in case it contained dangerous substances. Greenwich suffered psychological injury as a result.
A win for the wider community
Greenwich said the ruling was about more than him. “I pursued this matter not only for myself, but for the many people across the LGBTQIA+ community who experience similar abuse and are told to accept it as part of public life or online debate,” he said in a statement after the verdict.
“The judgment makes clear that social media is plainly capable of being a vehicle for unlawful vilification, particularly where the conduct is engaged in by a public figure with a large audience.”
His lawyer, Nicolas Stewart of Dowson Turco Lawyers, called it “a landmark judgment” that shows “those who seek to harm us must be held accountable.”
Latham plans to appeal
Latham, predictably, is unhappy. He labelled the decision “a woke, left-wing political judgment, wrong at law and riddled with factual errors”, and described the tribunal as “a publicly funded Mad Hatter’s tea party”. He says he will appeal.
This is the second major financial hit over the same tweet. In 2024, the Federal Court ordered Latham to pay Greenwich $140,000 in defamation damages, also subject to appeal.
We featured Greenwich in DNA #310, where he spoke candidly about the toll the abuse took on his mental and physical health, and the work it took to recover.
“You can’t let the haters win, and you also can’t do it alone,” he told DNA.
“It’s so important to ask for help, whether it’s from a psychologist, lawyer, personal trainer, your partner, parent or a close friend.”
The ruling does what Greenwich set out to do. It puts a price on homophobia from public figures and makes clear that an audience of millions does not buy you a free pass.
