Former federal Labor leader Mark Latham has denied vile abuse allegations from a former partner, labelling them “comically false and ridiculous”.
Latham, now an independent member in the NSW upper house, took to social media on Monday night after multiple outlets detailed the allegations.
“As the old saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” he wrote.
The claims were reportedly contained in an application for an apprehended domestic violence order that 37-year-old Nathalie Matthews has made to a local court in Sydney.
The Australian reports that Matthews claims Latham forced her into degrading sexual acts, demanded she call him “master” and threw dinner plates at her.
She accuses him of engaging in a “sustained pattern” of abuse, including emotional, psychological and financial manipulation, pressuring her to have sex with other people and participate in depraved acts, and driving his car at her.
Matthews also claims she has been in a “constant state of fear and hypervigilance” since returning from overseas in June “due to the defendant’s pattern of harassment and intimidation following previous separations”.
Latham, 64, refused to comment to The Australian and the Nine newspapers, but took to social media to describe the allegations as “comically false and ridiculous”.
“I have scores of documents to show that and will rely upon them to defend myself,” he posted on X.
Latham also said NSW Police had not contacted him about the claims.
The New Daily does not suggest that the claims against Latham are true, just that they have been made and will be contested in court.
Matthews lodged the private AVO application with the NSW Local Court. The case is listed for its first mention on July 30.
Latham’s entry on the NSW Parliament House website describes him as one of Australia’s “leading advocates of ‘outsider’ politics”.
“He strongly opposes the impact of political correctness and identity politics on public debate, freely speaking his mind on a range of issues,” it says.
Latham was the federal opposition leader during the 2004 national election, which was won by the Coalition under prime minister John Howard.
He resigned from federal parliament in early 2005. He subsequently left Labor before being elected to the NSW upper house in 2019 as a One Nation member.
He quit that party in 2023.
In a separate court dispute, Latham was ordered to pay $140,000 to independent MP Alex Greenwich in September.
Greenwich sued over a sexually explicit and homophobic social media post ahead of the 2023 state election.
The Federal Court found Latham’s tweet exposed MrGreenwich, who is gay and a prominent LGBTQI community advocate, to a torrent of hateful abuse including death threats.
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-with AAP
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