Mark Latham’s ‘defiant’ act after vulgar tweet – amid concerns he ‘no longer needs One Nation’

Mark Latham has doubled down on his homophobic comments about Independent MP Alex Greenwich by ‘liking’ a series of tweets supporting the slur.

The NSW One Nation leader on Thursday swiftly removed his post attacking Independent MP Alex Greenwich but, in an apparent act of defiance, took pleasure in making several comments supporting his position, including: “I didn’t could say better, Mark.’

Latham appears to have gone into hiding and is not taking calls as of Friday morning after objecting to Greenwich calling him “disgusting” after he gave a speech to a church as Christian Lives Matter protesters allegedly clashed with LGBTQI protesters .

Latham responded by tweeting, “Disgusting? How does that compare to sticking your dick in a guy’s ass and covering him in shit?”

Daily Mail Australia has confirmed that he has still not responded to One Nation leader at the federal level, Pauline Hanson, after she texted him expressing her disgust, made several attempts to contact him – and publicly condemned him last night.

There are calls for Latham to be removed from the party and others for his role in the NSW parliament to be resigned altogether.

But even if he were to drop One Nation – a big decision – Latham would no longer need his party’s backing or support.

On Saturday, he was re-elected to the upper house for eight years with a salary estimated at $170,000.

He could choose to leave the party and serve out the rest of his term – until 2031 – as an independent, as he has been offered a job in parliament until he is 70 years old.

The 62-year-old resigned from his position in parliament in October 2022 in a bid to double the number of seats One Nation had in the upper house and run again in the 2023 election.

And while many of his own supporters are outraged by the comments, plenty of others have since expressed their support.

“I think Mark’s buttons have been pressed one too many times. People can only take so much until they’ve had enough,” said one fan.

Another said, “I wish I could vote for him twice.”

Although Latham and Mr Greenwich have clashed over opposing policies in the past, the duo appeared to be on good terms during a recent debate with Radio 2GB.

Mr Greenwich described their relationship as ‘friendly colleagues in parliament’ who have ‘some intense debates’.

And Latham commented in the same chat that “everyone loves Alex.”

Ben Fordham, who moderated the debate, said it was the most polite he had organized at the time and praised both men for the respect they had for each other.

Any illusions that the couple would be on good terms with each other has now been shattered, with Mr Greenwich noting he expects no apology for the off-putting remarks.

“For those wondering how I’m doing after Latham’s homophobic attacks today, I’m doing well and more motivated than ever to implement the much-anticipated LGBTIQA+ reforms,” ​​he said.

“And I have the most handsome husband.”

He has been praised for the stylish response he gave to the mean tweet.

Mr Greenwich said he also expects no redress in the NSW parliament.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe is leading calls for Latham’s resignation, revealing she found his comments “quite hard to watch”.

“What he did was really disgusting. I haven’t seen that kind of language in a long time,” she said.

“It has a real impact on the community, even on people like me, which was really hard for me to watch yesterday.”

Senator Hanson said she had tried several times to call the fired MP to ask him to apologize publicly, but he had not responded.

‘I’ve actually tried to call Mark a few times, but to no avail. And I obviously texted him telling him my opinion,” she said.

“I asked him to apologize to the people. I’ll leave it at that. It’s now up to Mark to answer to the people.’