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NSW upper house MP Mark Latham has been ordered to pay lower house MP Alex Greenwich $140,000 in damages, over an offensive tweet which targeted Greenwich over his sexuality.

The independent member for Sydney sued Latham for defamation in the Federal Court, claiming a post on the platform now known as X in March 2023, conveyed a meaning that Greenwich engages in “disgusting sexual activities”. 

In the Federal Court, Justice David O’Callaghan found this first imputation was conveyed. But a second imputation, that Greenwich was not a fit and proper person to sit in parliament was not found to have been conveyed. 

The judge also dismissed other aspects of the case related to comments made by Latham later in the Daily Telegraph. 

The tweet was made in the context of responses to a news report about a protest by a small group of LGBTQIA+ protesters outside a Sydney church, where Latham spoke at an event in the lead-up to the NSW election. 

The group was targeted by a mob of about 250 people. 

In May, Greenwich’s barrister Dr Matt Collins KC told the court the ordeal had left his client experiencing panic attacks, feeling anxious, lacking confidence and reluctant to attend large gatherings. 

The tweet was deleted but not before being seen by more than 6,000 users of the platform. It also continued to be published by other users. 

Justice O’Callaghan found Greenwich had established it had caused or was likely to cause serious harm to his reputation. 

“In my view, the ordinary reasonable person would interpret the meaning of the primary tweet to be that Mr Greenwich – not homosexual men generally – engages in disgusting sexual activities,” he said in the 74-page judgment. 

Justice O’Callaghan also made note of the large number of offensive responses triggered by Latham’s post. 

“One might be forgiven for being lost for words to characterise many of the tweets and comments,” he said. 

“Counsel opted for ‘despicable’… but that is barely to do justice to the hate-filled venom that was unleashed…” 

Justice O’Callaghan said the impact on Greenwich was clear. 

“[T]here is no doubt that as a result of the publication of the primary tweet, for which Mr Latham offered no genuine apology, Mr Greenwich suffered a loss of standing because he was exposed to ridicule and that he experienced a significant subjective hurt to his feelings, aggravated by the foreseeable “maelstrom” described…” 

“It may well be that much of it was the product of people with deranged minds … but that is hardly any solace to Mr Greenwich,” said Justice O’Callaghan.  

He awarded a total of $140,000 damages, comprising $100,000 for non-economic loss and $40,000 for aggravated damages.