Pauline Hanson axes Mark Latham as NSW One Nation leader
Mark Latham has launched a scathing attack on federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. The move follows a letter from Hanson in which she sensationally ousted Latham as leader of the party in NSW.
NSW
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Mark Latham has hit back after being removed as leader of the NSW division of One Nation following an extraordinary intervention by the party’s federal leader Pauline Hanson.
It can be revealed Ms Hanson wrote to members of the party’s NSW leadership team to disband the state executive, previously led by Mr Latham.
In its place a new state executive was installed, under the terms of the party’s constitution, with Ms Hanson leading the party.
The move means that, for the moment, the party has no official leader in state parliament where it holds three seats in the upper house.
In the letter, Ms Hanson cited the party’s failure to meet expectations in the March state elections as a key reason behind the change.
“At the state election in March 2023, there was a 14 per cent swing against our party vote from the previous election,” Ms Hanson wrote.
“There is still no good explanation as to why this occurred given that we had two MLCs in the state parliament, a fully resourced NSW branch office and disillusioned conservative voters abandoning the Liberal Party … these are serious questions that need to be addressed.”
Mr Latham slammed the move in a statement posted to Facebook.
Without consultation or due process, Senator Pauline Hanson used the National Executive powers of One Nation to take over our NSW branch,” the statement read.
“She has installed her own new State Executive with people from Queensland and Tasmania who did not lift a finger to help us during the March election campaign.
“Good party members who worked exceptionally hard for One Nation have been kicked off the Executive.
“Hanson’s sole justification for this takeover is our upper house vote, which fell by 1 per cent in March. Yet our 6 per cent result was still 2 per cent ahead of the NSW Senate result last year in a campaign Hanson herself headed.
“In Queensland, Hanson’s Senate vote fell by 3 per cent and she only just scrapped in for re-election. If she is worried about under-performance, her best solution is to buy a mirror.
“In June, NSW One Nation conducted a thorough post-election review involving all our state candidates. Last month Senator Hanson was briefed on the review’s findings. Our NSW party was moving forward in a sensible, cooperative way but has now been turned upside down by the Queensland intervention.
“Equally, the decision to try to abolish the position of NSW One Nation Parliamentary Leader is bizarre, mirroring something the Greens do in the NSW Parliament.
This is a matter, quite rightly, for me, Rod Roberts and Tania Mihailuk. I remain as the leader of our parliamentary team. Over the past 5 years we have built up into the largest One Nation parliamentary party in the country – so where’s the problem?
“The Queensland takeover is not about performance. It is about money.”
Mr Latham said that as NSW One Nation Leader he had sought to ensure that the administration money contributed by NSW taxpayers through the Electoral Commission was properly used.
“I will continue to fight for the proper, ethical use of this money.”
Before the election, Mr Latham had confidently predicted the party would pick up seats in regional NSW however those gains failed to materialise.
The party picked up just 1.8 per cent of the total vote with a swing of 0.7 per cent, but failed to win any seats in the Legislative Assembly.
The decision to support Legislative Council member Rod Roberts in his successful bid to become Deputy President of the upper house, meaning he is unable to cast a vote and potentially break ties, was also a factor.
According to the letter, Ms Hanson will be “personally involved” in a “root and branch review into all aspects of the party organisation – including the role and responsibility of the parliamentary wing – in future campaigns.”
Mr Latham made headlines earlier this year after Sydney MP Alex Greenwich filed a legal complaint against the now-former One Nation leader regarding comments on Twitter.
Mr Latham is being sued for defamation in the Federal Court over the March 22 tweet which described explicit sexual acts he claimed Mr Greenwich had carried out.
The tweet was in response to Mr Greewich previously calling Mr Latham a “disgusting human being” after LGBTQI+ protesters were attacked outside a church hall where Mr Latham had been giving a speech before the 2023 NSW election.
Mr Latham’s defence, filed last week, claims the tweet had in fact enhanced Mr Greenwich’s reputation rather than harming it.
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