Mark Latham has denied allegations of physical and emotional abuse levelled against him by his ex-partner, and defended sending explicit texts while in parliament.
Yesterday, it emerged the independent NSW MP’s former girlfriend, Nathalie Matthews, had made a private application for an apprehended violence order against Latham.
Matthews accused Latham of emotional, psychological and financial manipulation in her filing, as well as pressuring her to participate in depraved acts, and driving his car at her, as first reported by The Australian.
In a radio interview this morning on 2SM with Chris Smith, Latham said the allegations were “preposterous” and he would defend himself in court.
“Just about all the things she’s complaining about, she initiated in consensual arrangements,” he said.
He said he has had no contact with Matthews since May 27, when their relationship ended, outside of matters relating to a co-owned harness racing horse and returning belongings to her apartment.
He said the published messages were inaccurate, had been taken out of context, were not related to the AVO application against him, and showed he was only “guilty of being a human in that regard and male”.
“If you’re sitting there listening to (NSW government upper house leader) Penny Sharpe droning on, then a woman that looks like Nathalie Matthews sends you a message, which one would you pay attention to?” he asked.
“I am guilty of that on a regular occasion,” Smith responded.
“There are inaccuracies, a lack of context – the reference to an ‘f-parlour’ was an in-joke that I don’t think you’d understand unless you’d seen or participated in the full context of the messages,” Latham added.
He also said “the big news is I have a private life, I had a sex life that I’ve got to say was fantastic”.
Once the federal opposition leader in the Labor Party, Latham has long been a controversial figure in Australian politics.
He has previously attacked Rosie Batty, the domestic violence campaigner and former Australian of the Year, for “demonising men and making them feel worse about themselves”.
He resigned from the Australian Financial Review in 2015 over a series of tweets against prominent female journalists, and more recently was ordered to pay $140,000 in damages to independent NSW MP Alex Greenwich for a defamatory tweet that explicitly described a sex act.
Latham quit One Nation after Pauline Hanson dumped him as the party’s leader in NSW over the tweet.
Smith, meanwhile, has also previously faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women, having twice been sacked by Nine over misconduct claims.
Nine is the publisher of this website.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
