Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has been awarded $140,000 after suing former One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham for defamation.
In March last year, Latham posted a graphic homophobic tweet after being described by Greenwich as a “disgusting human being” in comments to the media.
Latham responded on X, formerly Twitter, with a tweet comparing Greenwich’s comment to derogatory references about same-sex relationships. He then followed up with another tweet sarcastically apologising for expressing discomfort with the idea of same-sex intimacy.
Greenwich, who is openly gay, alleged that the tweet and further comments made by Latham to the Daily Telegraph exposed him to hatred, contempt, and ridicule, and injured his professional and personal reputation.
In a decision handed down on Wednesday, Federal Court Justice David O’Callaghan ruled that Latham’s tweets were defamatory, though his comments to the Daily Telegraph were not.
The judge determined that the tweet conveyed the imputation that Greenwich “engages in disgusting sexual activities” and rejected Latham’s defences, including his claims of honest opinion.
“I have found that the first imputation relating to the primary tweet being that Mr Greenwich engages in disgusting sexual activities was conveyed,” O’Callaghan said, according to The Guardian.
Greenwich was awarded $100,000 in damages for non-economic loss and a further $40,000 in aggravated damages.
Following the decision, Greenwich issued a statement describing how the tweets had changed his life and led to his legal action to restore his reputation.
Greenwich had earlier told the court that following the tweets, he had received death threats, experienced a loss of confidence, and cancelled work events, according to the ABC. He said the impact was so severe that he questioned whether he could continue in his role as a NSW MP.
In a statement on Wednesday, Greenwich said Latham’s tweet “exposed me to hatred, contempt and ridicule”.
“I was inundated with hateful, threatening and abusive emails, letters and phone calls,” he said.
“Some of these people have been charged with criminal offences and one has so far been convicted.
“I wanted to stand up for myself, the LGBTQ community, and my family, to send a clear message that these Trump-style personalised attacks on political opponents have no place in Australian public life.”
During the trial, Latham’s barrister, Kieran Smark, described the tweet as “offensive and crass and vulgar” but argued it did not injure Greenwich’s reputation, according to The Guardian. He also contended that the tweet did not meet the threshold of serious harm required to sustain a defamation claim.
Latham deleted the initial tweet within three hours of posting it, but it drew widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum, including from One Nation’s federal leader Pauline Hanson, who fired Latham and urged him to apologise.
Greenwich said the judgment sent “a clear message that you can’t attack a gay person based on their perceived sexual activities; you can’t cross the line when it comes to personalised political attacks, and you can’t just say whatever you like online without consequence”.
Latham did not respond when contacted on Wednesday.
Gay Sydney News reporter