Mark Latham does not deny having sex in Parliament House
The former Labor leader also said he was ‘unaware of any intimate videos Natalie Matthews filmed involving me’ in NSW Parliament House, and said he had breached no laws or legislative standing orders.
Former Labor leader Mark Latham has refused to deny that he had sexual intercourse with his ex-partner Nathalie Matthews in NSW Parliament House.
The NSW Upper House member invited media to Camden Park on Saturday morning following The Australian’s exclusive interview with his ex-partner, who said part of the reason she applied for a domestic violence order against him was for fear intimate videos she filmed, including one recorded in NSW Parliament House, would be made public.
The Australian this week revealed Ms Matthews, who owns an e-commerce global logistics firm, had lodged the DVO application accusing Mr Latham of domestic abuse, including defecating on her during sex and driving at her in a car.
Mr Latham has admitted to sending sexually explicit messages to Ms Matthews while on the floor of parliament, but emphatically denies allegations included in the DVO application, and claims they are “absolute rubbish”.
It is understood Ms Matthews had previously taken the allegations to NSW police but they have not yet laid any charges or applied for an order on her behalf.
Mr Latham told media: “I am unaware of any intimate videos Natalie Matthews filmed involving me.”
“I have checked my devices and I can’t find any material that she has filmed involving me and sent me and that includes NSW Parliament House. If she has recorded these videos it has been without my knowledge and consent and there are questions about the legality of such a practice.”
He appeared to accuse her of leaking information about the existence of a Parliament House sex tape.
Mr Latham would not be drawn on questions about whether such a video existed at all.
He would not deny claims he had sex in NSW Parliament House, instead asking journalists whether they had had sex in their workplaces.
“These are matters that are private ... I’m not making any comment on things that are private,” he said, when asked.
“Members of Parliament run their own office,” he said.
“These are not matters of public interest ... The truth is members of parliament have privilege for whatever happens in their office, is their own domain. And I’m not dealing in your salacious, voyeuristic exercise.”
He said he had broken no laws, nor breached any legislative standing orders.
“I have broken no law. The police did not involve themselves in (the AVO) matter,” he said.
“I have breached no standing orders of the Legislative Council, and the NSW parliament has stringent processes about inappropriate behaviour. And, in my six years there, I’ve never been notified of a complaint against me.”
Mr Latham on Saturday said it was a “Matthews falsehood” that a subpoena for her communications with WiseTech founder Richard White was an attempt to “intimidate” her into withdrawing the DVO application against him.
“He is trying to silence me and assassinate my character,” Ms Matthews told The Australian on Friday in an emotional interview.
Mr Latham said: “She’s claimed in her private application before the court, falsely claimed, that I made her have sex with other people, so this allows us to interrogate the people unprompted by me, that she’s had sex with. And there are many.
“So the subpoena is directed in part to get information that’s relevant to her application so it can be tested in the court.”
He again denied the central allegations, including defecation and driving a car at her, saying it was “complete nonsense”.
He called it a “media disease ... to take this stuff from someone who is not rational, not true ... not thinking clearly about anything and exploit her for these salacious, smutty stories that you’re running about someone’s sex life.” He said it was time for the media to stop the “recklessness”.
Mr Latham said one thing was abundantly clear - that for two years they had a “sexed-up, consensual, open arrangement between adults”.
“I didn’t make any moral judgment about her, I just enjoyed our time together and it was enjoyable for 90 per cent of the time.“ He said the other 10 per cent was perhaps ”dark and disturbing”.
Ms Matthews says Mr Latham proposed to her at Sydney restaurant Otto in May last year after more than two years together. Mr Latham, however, has claimed the pair were in a “situationship”.
The Australian also revealed on Friday Mr Latham told his ex-partner that billionaire Mr White owed her “big money” and urged her to “get the compo NDA (non-disclosure agreement)” after the Wisetech Global founder was accused by multiple women of exchanging business advice for sex.
The messages also showed the MP had suggested Mr White would want Ms Matthews to perform oral sex on him to “celebrate” after WiseTech board members quit, leaving him with greater control over the company.
NAPLAN stars rise as strugglers marooned
Australia’s $90bn education system faces a stark reality check as NAPLAN results show students from poor families and regional schools are falling further behind top-performing students in the cities.
Labor’s ban to capture YouTube
Communications Minister Anika Wells will announce YouTube’s inclusion in Labor’s social media ban for under-16s, reversing a prior exemption and paving the platform to threaten a High Court challenge.