A court in Sydney has heard that the independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich considered quitting politics after being subjected to an offensive tweet by One Nation's former state leader Mark Latham. Mr Greenwich is suing for defamation over comments which were condemned as homophobic and playing on tired stereotypes of gay men.
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00:00 Political opponents now facing off in court. Alex Greenwich has been an openly gay independent
00:07 MP for over a decade. He says he'd never experienced anything like a tweet by Mark Latham last
00:15 March. Violence marred an LGBT rally outside a Sydney church where Mr Latham was speaking.
00:21 In a media article about that incident, Mr Greenwich called Mr Latham a "disgusting human
00:27 being". The response? "Disgusting? How does that compare with..." "We've chosen not to
00:33 publish the rest", which referred to sexual activity in terms described to the court as
00:38 "revolting". The judge was told Mr Greenwich was engaging in public debate about a notorious
00:43 incident. Mr Latham, rather than engaging in that debate, went as low as possible. The
00:50 reaction included death threats from the public. Mr Greenwich alleges he was defamed by both
00:55 the tweet and Mr Latham's later comments to the Daily Telegraph, which he says painted
01:00 him as someone who goes to schools to groom children to become gay. What Mr Latham did
01:06 was he played upon two very tired stereotypes which have no place in modern Australia, that
01:12 gay men are somehow depraved because of his presumption about sexual activities they engage
01:17 in and that gay men can't be trusted with children. Mr Latham's lawyers deny the meanings
01:22 were conveyed and say the required threshold for serious harm hasn't been reached. The
01:28 court heard Mr Greenwich experienced panic attacks, a reluctance to attend large gatherings
01:33 and even considered quitting politics entirely. Under cross-examination he was taken through
01:38 various diary entries and it was suggested he has been able to continue his public political
01:43 advocacy. Alex Greenwich said he's been putting on a brave face.
01:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]