Mark Latham doubled down on his homophobic comments towards Independent MP Alex Greenwich, “liking” a series of tweets supporting the slur.
The NSW One Nation leader was quick to delete his post attacking Independent state MP Alex Greenwich on Thursday, but in what appeared to be a challenge, he liked several comments supporting his position, including: “I couldn’t have said it better, Mark,” “Keep it up Mark!” and “Exactly!”
It is not clear if he liked most of the supportive comments before or after deleting his own post.
It appears Latham has gone into hiding and has not taken calls as of Friday morning after he objected to Greenwich calling him “disgusting”. Greenwich’s comments came after Latham gave a speech in front of a church while Christian Missionary Lives protesters clashed with LGBTQI+ protesters.
Latham responded by tweeting: “Disgusting?” How does it compare to sticking a d*** up a bloke’s a*** and covering it up with an s***? ‘
Daily Mail Australia confirmed he still failed to respond to One Nation’s federal leader, Pauline Hanson, after she texted him outlining her disgust, made several attempts to contact him – and then publicly denounced him last night.
There are calls for Latham to be removed from the party and others for him to step down from his role in the New South Wales parliament altogether.
Latham appears to have gone into hiding and is not taking calls as of Friday morning. He even still snubbed One Nation’s leader at the federal level, Pauline Hanson
But even if he dropped One Nation — a big call — Latham no longer needed the backing or backing of his own party.
Last Saturday, he was re-elected to the Senate for an eight-year term, at an estimated salary of $170,000.
He could choose to leave the party and serve the remainder of his term – until 2031 – as an independent, having secured a job in Parliament until he turns 70.
The 62-year-old resigned from his position in Parliament in October 2022 in a bid to double the number of seats One Nation held in the upper house and run again in the 2023 election.
And while many of his supporters are outraged by the comments, there are plenty of others who have since come out to lend their support.
I think Mark’s buttons were pressed once too much. One fan said, “People can only take so much for so long until they get enough.
Another said: “I wish I could vote for him twice.”
While Latham and Mr Greenwich have sparred in the past over opposing policies, the duo appeared to be on good terms during a recent debate with 2GB Radio.
He was commended for his classy response to the vile tweet. Greenwich said he also did not foresee any avenue for challenge in the New South Wales parliament
There are calls for Latham to be removed from the party and others for him to step down from his role in the NSW Parliament entirely
Greenwich described their relationship as “friendly fellow parliamentarians” who had “some intense discussions”.
“Everyone loves Alex,” Latham noted in the same chat.
Ben Fordham, as moderator of the debate, said it was the most civilized he had hosted at that point and he commended both men for the respect they showed each other.
Any illusions that the pair are on good terms are now shattered, with Greenwich noting that he doesn’t expect an apology for the distasteful comments.
He said: ‘For those wondering where I am after Latham’s homophobic attacks today, I am fine and excited as ever to introduce long-overdue reforms on the LGBT community.
“And I have the most handsome husband.”
He was commended for his classy response to the vile tweet.
Greenwich said he also did not foresee any avenue for challenge in the New South Wales parliament.
Mark Latham doubled down on his homophobic comments towards independent MP Alex Greenwich by ‘liking’ a series of tweets supporting the slur
NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharp is leading calls for Latham’s resignation, revealing that she found his comments “extremely difficult”.
She said, “What he did was really, really hateful because I haven’t seen that kind of language for a long time.”
“It really has an impact on society, including even on people like me, I found it very hard to see yesterday.”
Sen. Hanson said she tried to contact the controversial representative several times to ask him to issue a public apology but he did not respond.
I’ve already tried contacting Mark several times, to no avail. And obviously I sent him a text telling him my views.
I asked him to give people an apology. I’ll leave it at this. It is now up to Mark to respond to the people.