Pauline Hanson distances herself from 'disgusting' attack on gay MP
The One Nation Leader says she's tried to call Mark Latham about his now-deleted tweet a couple of times.
Pauline Hanson has publicly slapped down one of her own party leaders over a tweet she’s slammed as ‘disgusting’.
Mark Latham, the One Nation Leader in NSW, has since deleted his post from Thursday morning in which he directed graphic and homophobic remarks at NSW Independent MP Alex Greenwich.
“I want you to know that I don’t condone [Mr Latham’s comments] and neither do my members of parliament or party associates,” Senator Hanson said in a video message on Twitter. “I think they are disgusting.”
She added that she’d “actually tried to ring Mark a couple of times to no avail”.
“I have clearly sent a text message to him telling him my views and also I have asked him to give the people an apology,” she said. “I will leave it at that, it is now over to Mark to answer the people.”
Independent MP slams Senator Hanson’s ‘empty words’
But on Friday morning, Mr Greenwich, who is openly gay, dismissed Senator Hanson’s words as “empty”.
“I don't need or want Senator Hanson's support,” he told the ABC. “Obviously, she's embarrassed by the content of what Mark Latham tweeted but the work she has done in our Senate to target the trans community in particular is pretty cruel.”
Mr Latham’s tweet, which Yahoo News Australia has chosen not to publish, came in response to remarks Mr Greenwich had made earlier in which he called the NSW One Nation leader a “disgusting human being”. The comment came after a small group of LGBTQIA+ protestors were mobbed by hundreds of ‘Christian Lives Matter’ activists outside a church in Sydney where Mr Latham had been speaking.
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Describing Mr Latham’s tweet as “hurtful”, the Independent MP said the NSW One Nation leader has done “untold damage to the trans community”.
“I don't want to begin to understand how Mark Latham's mind works,” Mr Greenwich added. “In what I have observed of him, is that he is of equal parts lazy as he is cruel.”
“It's never easy being the target of a homophobic attack. Sadly, it's nothing new for me… But it’s just motivated me more to make sure that we are ending all discrimination that targets the LGBTIQ community in New South Wales.”
For those wondering how I’m doing after Latham’s homophobic attacks today, I’m fine and I’m more motivated than ever to deliver long overdue LGBTIQA+ reforms… and I have the most handsome husband. pic.twitter.com/MRA8pI6xE5
— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) March 30, 2023
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