An unrepentant Mark Latham has said he will ‘never apologise, never explain’ as his political future hangs in the balance after he caused outrage this week by sending a ‘homophobic’ message to a gay MP.
The One Nation NSW leader was blasted by figures across the political spectrum, including his own party’s boss Pauline Hanson who labelled his comments ‘disgusting’ and told him to issue a public apology.
On Friday night, newly-appointed NSW Premier Chris Minns described Latham’s comments as ‘vile and shameful’ and said Latham had revealed himself as a ‘bigot’.
But NSW parliament is powerless to take action against him until his re-election to the upper house is confirmed. Counting is not expected to be complete until April 20.
Despite facing intense pressure to step down, Latham, 62, doubled down on his comments as he broke his silence on Friday night to parrot former President Trump’s mantra and refuse to say sorry or defend himself.
The row first blew up when Latham objected to independent MP Alex Greenwich calling him ‘disgusting’.
In a response which has now been deleted, Latham wrote: ‘Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your d*** up a bloke’s a*** and covering it with s***?’
It is the latest controversy for Latham in a controversy-wracked political career that has spanned three decades and taken him from within touching distance of being a Labor Prime Minister to One Nation’s NSW leader unloading at ‘woke’ society.
Mark Latham has said he will ‘never apologise, never explain’ after he caused outrage this week
He has been beset with controversies during his career – including this moment during the 2004 federal election where he gave his rival John Howard a very aggressive handshake
The stoush with Mr Greenwich isn’t even his first brush with homophobia, after he came under fire six years ago for directing an alleged homophobic comment to a student from Sydney Boys High School who featured in a video celebrating feminism.
Latham referred to the teenagers in the video as ‘d***heads’ while appearing on the Outsiders program in March of that year, adding: ‘I thought the first guy was gay.’
Backlash to his comments was swift and within two weeks Sky News chief executive officer Angelos Frangopoulos confirmed Latham had been sacked as a commentator for the channel.
His time at Sky News also saw fellow host US-born Kristina Keneally lodge a formal complaint against him for describing her as a ‘Yankee sheila’.
ABC presenter Wendy Harmer, who was born with a cleft lip and double cleft palate, also wrote a legal letter of complaint to Sky News against Latham after he described her as a ‘female with a disability’ and a ‘proven commercial failure’.
And Latham was criticised for dismissing the Reserve Bank of Australia’s women promotion drive as appointing people solely on the basis of the ‘shape of their genitalia’.
Mark Latham recently revealed his 25kg weight loss after a strict diet and gym sessions ahead of the state election campaign where he is set to re-elected for a further eight years
Mark Latham tweeted: ‘Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your d*** up a bloke’s a*** and covering it with s***?’
Mark Latham celebrated Trump’s election victory in 2016 by wearing a MAGA hat on breakfast television (pictured). He channeled the former President in a tweet repeating a motto of Donald Trump (pictured): Never apologise, never explain
Perhaps the most infamous incident involving Latham took place during the 2004 federal election, when he was still leader of the Labor party.
Latham came under-fire for an aggressive handshake with his opposition John Howard as they met on the eve of the election.
Bursting out from behind a closed door, he gripped Howard’s hand and brought his face within centimetres of his counterpart’s.
The bizarre confrontation saw Latham a ‘bully’ – a tag that has stuck with him in the year’s since.
In 2001, Latham had a verbal stoush with a taxi driver over a fare charge.
He is then alleged to have tackled the taxi driver, who was left with a broken arm after the incident.
Latham maintains he never broke the law when he tackled the taxi driver, who he claims ran off with his bag.
In 2006, he was at eating a restaurant with his two sons when he was photographed by a photographer.
Mark Latham was sacked as a Sky News commentator in 2017 after he made comments about a teenager’s sexuality on air
The photographer alleged that Latham snatched the camera and smashed it while calling him a paedophile.
Shortly afterwards, Latham appeared to drive towards a Channel 7 television cameraman at his Sydney home.
In February 2006, he was charged with assault, malicious damage and theft in relation to the incident with the photographer.
Latham did not appear in court and instead gave a lecture to political science students at the Australian National University.
However, the event took a turn when he was asked by a student how he could ‘blame everyone else but himself’.
Latham replied: ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come in here and expose myself as a miserable a***wipe.’
After missing several court dates, Latham eventually avoided a criminal conviction for malicious damage.
Senior military officer Group Captain Catherine McGregor, who is transgender, made complaints to the AFR over Latham’s columns.
In 2015, he left his job as a columnist on the Australian Financial Review after criticising domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty and several women journalists on Twitter
The @RealMarkLatham account in an exchange with Ms McGregor, where she is addressed as ‘Mal’ – the name she went by before transitioning into a woman
After pleading guilty to the malicious damage charge, he had the charges of assault and theft dropped, but was required to pay $6,763.70 in compensation for the damaged camera.
Mark Latham was slammed over an ‘appalling’ tweet last year attacking the Channel Nine election debate host Sarah Abo (pictured)
In the years since, Latham has continued to attract controversy with his comments.
Last year, he was slammed over an ‘appalling’ tweet attacking the Channel Nine election debate host Sarah Abo.
The 60 Minutes host struggled to control Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese during a fiery clash.
In the wake of the tumultuous debate between the two leaders, Latham tweeted a joke about her last name.
‘Never trust an Abo with something as important as that,’ he said.
The tweet sparked uproar as it was immediately interpreted as a slur about Indigenous Australians.
Latham later doubled down on his comments in an unrepentant statement.
After Ms Batty responded to the column and labelled Mr Latham ‘uniformed’ and ‘ignorant’, the @RealMarkLatham account began trolling her
In 2015, Mark Latham left his job as a columnist on the Australian Financial Review after criticising domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty (pictured) and several women journalists on Twitter
In 2015, he left his job as a columnist on the Australian Financial Review after criticising domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty and several women journalists on Twitter.
Senior military officer Group Captain Catherine McGregor, who is transgender, and Westpac bank made complaints to the AFR over Latham’s columns.
Latham described Ms McGregor as a ‘He/She’, and suggested Ms Batty was commercialising her son Luke’s murder, in columns published by Fairfax’s AFR.
Ms McGregor complained in a leaked email to AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury that she found Latham’s remarks hurtful and derogatory.
Another incident in 2013 saw Latham criticised for his input in a debate over Liberal leader Tony Abbott, describing one of his party’s candidates as having ‘sex appeal’.
In a radio interview, Latham said: ‘It showed very bad judgment. It showed that he’s got low standards. I’ve had a good look at Fiona Scott and I don’t think she’s got sex appeal at all.
‘He must have had the beer goggles on because she’s not that good of a sort, and I’d rather have an aspirant for the prime ministership who’s a good judge when it comes to checking out the good sorts, as many Australian men do.’
Meanwhile, in 2017, he falsely accused journalist Osman Faruqi of ‘aiding and abetting Islamic terrorism’. He was sued for defamation in a case later settled out of court when he agreed to remove the statements and pay damages and legal costs.
Pauline Hanson revealed on Thursday that she had been unable to reach Mark Latham to express her disgust at his tweet, throwing his future with One Nation into doubt
In an earlier incident, Latham wrote that ‘inner-city feminists don’t like children and don’t want to be with them’.
He named a columnist and was subsequently sued for defamation amd the case was again settled out of court.
After losing the 2003 federal election, Latham resigned as Labor leader in 2005, leaving parliament at the same time.
He later published a controversial memoir trashing the state of politics in Australia and has continued to take shots at his former party in recent years.
In 2016, he praised US president Donald Trump and declared his support for him while wearing a scarlet Make America Great Again baseball cap.
He reiterated his support for Trump with his response to his latest row, linking to an article that said leaders, like the ex-US president, should ‘never apologise, never explain’.
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