Mark Latham defies Pauline Hanson with fresh homophobic tirade, still refuses to apologise

Mark Latham has essentially dared Pauline Hanson to act by quadrupling down on his homophobic views for which she’d asked he apologise.

One Nation’s leader in New South Wales, Mark Latham, has defied federal leader Pauline Hanson by quadrupling down on the homophobic comments for which she’d demanded he apologise in a fresh tirade.

In late March, Mr Latham wrote a response on Twitter to Alex Greenwich, a gay member of the NSW Legislative Assembly, who had called him “a disgusting human being” as well as a “hateful and dangerous individual”.

“Disgusting? How does that compare with-” Mr Latham said, before making a crude reference to a sexual act.

His remark was so outrageous that Ms Hanson, head of his own party at a national level, issued a public rebuke.

“I want you to know that I don’t condone them and neither do my members of parliament or party associates, I think they are disgusting,” Ms Hanson said of Mr Latham’s comments.

“I’ve actually tried to ring Mark a couple of times, to no avail, and I have clearly sent a text message to him, telling him my views.

“And also I’ve asked him to give the people an apology.”

Pauline Hanson responded to Mark Latham in a video shared on social media.

Mark Latham inside NSW Parliament. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire

Mr Latham subsequently said he’d been expressing “what normal people know to be the truth”, and claimed “the elites” were “caught up in a weird identity politics cult”.

Mr Greenwich, meanwhile, said he hoped Mr Latham was “OK” as his comments were “obviously not comments of a well person”.

Mr Latham appeared on TNT radio on Thursday afternoon and went even further, again making crude remarks about a sexual act, and telling host Chris Smith he speaks “for straight men”, adding “this is what makes us straight”.

In defiance of his federal leader, he accused Ms Hanson of failing to understand “how straight men feel about this” because she’s a woman.

“Pauline hasn’t rung me at any stage during this. I’ve had no contact from her,” he said.

“I’m assuming that, as a woman, she doesn’t understand how straight men feel about this, and I don’t think gay men would understand how straight men feel about it.

“That’s just the reality. And that’s not homophobia, that’s just nature.”

Mr Latham has never apologised for the original remark.

Mark Latham. Picture: Maree Williams/Getty Images

NSW Premier Chris Minns has previously called Mr Latham’s rhetoric on the matter “vile”, and on April 2 said he would try to block the One Nation leader from chairing committees in the Upper House.

Mr Latham responded by calling the Premier a “fool” and claiming he didn’t want to chair committees anyway.

He has justified his crude response to Mr Greenwich by characterising the independent MP’s initial tweet as “an attack on my love of my children, my role in my community, my work in public life”.

“He’s attacked my very existence as a human being as disgusting,” Mr Latham said.

“Greenwich has gone way over the top without any facts and I said what I honestly believe to be the truth in response to him. I gave my opinion.

“It’s not an opinion that’s fashionable, obviously. It was crudely expressed. The crude words were taken down off Twitter but there’ll be no apology for Greenwich.”

Mr Greenwich has said Mr Latham’s views “belong in the past” and expressed disappointment at still being subjected to “homophobic abuse”, having been re-elected to his position.

“I understand this tweet has been taken down, and I don’t intend to engage with the matter further,” he said in a statement at the end of March.

“My focus in the next parliament will be working with the majority of members who support the LGBTQIA community to progress important reforms, remove discrimination and make it clear these views belong in the past.”

Originally published as Mark Latham defies Pauline Hanson with fresh homophobic tirade, still refuses to apologise