Latest news with #NSWLegislativeCouncil
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
NSW MP Mark Latham denies ‘degrading' sex acts in explosive abuse allegations from former partner
Australian politician Mark Latham has strongly denied serious abuse allegations made by his former partner, Nathalie May Matthews , in a court filing that accuses him of emotional, sexual, psychological, physical, and financial abuse throughout their relationship. Matthews, 37, filed for an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) in New South Wales Local Court, seeking to prevent Latham, 64, from contacting her or coming within 100 meters. She alleges a 'sustained pattern' of degrading behavior, including disturbing claims of being defecated on before sex and not being allowed to wash afterward. In the court documents, Matthews accuses Latham of demanding she refer to him as 'master,' pressuring her to perform sex acts with others, and using threats and coercion to control her. She says he claimed she was 'his property' and that her only value was sexual. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Latham, a member of the NSW Legislative Council and former federal Labor leader, denied the allegations in a statement to The Australian, saying, 'The claims you've listed there are absolute rubbish. Comical, in fact. Nothing has been served on me nor has anyone contacted me.' He said the relationship ended on May 27, the same date Matthews alleges he appeared at her home uninvited after sending abusive texts. She claims he became verbally aggressive and later sent messages calling her a 'monster,' and that he fabricated complaints with his doctor and parliamentary security to portray himself as a victim. Live Events Matthews also alleges physical violence, including being pushed against walls, struck with a car's side mirror, and having a plate thrown at her. She says Latham monitored her devices without consent, insulted her appearance, and tried to isolate her by undermining her self-worth. Financial control was another part of the abuse, she alleges, including borrowing $20,000 on four occasions without repayment and pressuring her to pay for international holidays and luxury purchases. She further claims Latham possessed intimate photos and videos, and that she feared their release if she resisted his demands or left the relationship. The court will hear the matter on July 30 at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney. This is not the first controversy involving Latham. He was ordered to pay $140,000 in damages for defamatory, homophobic tweets targeting independent MP Alex Greenwich in 2024. That tweet accused Greenwich of engaging in 'disgusting' sexual acts. A Federal Court judge said the language caused serious reputational harm.
The Age
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Jewish children approached by strangers shouting ‘Heil Hitler', principals tell inquiry
Children at Sydney's Jewish schools are afraid to wear their school uniform and have been approached by strangers shouting 'Heil Hitler', principals have told a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism. Moriah College principal Miriam Hasofer told the inquiry on Friday morning that a year 9 girl had been 'chased' up Queen's Park Road near the eastern suburbs school by a woman repeatedly shouting 'F--- the Jews' and 'free Palestine'. 'This was a child walking to school. She was terrified,' said Hasofer, adding that 'what was once repugnantly un-Australian has become disturbingly routine'. 'The unacceptable has been normalised,' she said. Hasofer said the school has been exposed to a 'relentless drip-feed of hate' since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and was averaging 'at least one security incident per week' this year. Loading The NSW Legislative Council launched an inquiry into antisemitism in NSW in February. Its purpose is to consider the 'underlying increasing incidents of antisemitism across the state, and the threat that these incidents present to social cohesion'. Hasofer revealed that, in the days after the October 7 attack, the school received an anonymous Instagram message which described the school as a 'disgrace' and said: 'I hope all the children, parents and staff get cancer and die a slow painful death, praise Hitler.' In a separate incident that year, a person drove past the school gates and 'gave a Nazi salute', while in September 2024, a man driving along the road adjacent to the school yelled 'F--- the Jews', and two men 'exposed themselves to our security cameras' in June, to 'intimidate Jewish children', she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Jewish children approached by strangers shouting ‘Heil Hitler', principals tell inquiry
Children at Sydney's Jewish schools are afraid to wear their school uniform and have been approached by strangers shouting 'Heil Hitler', principals have told a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism. Moriah College principal Miriam Hasofer told the inquiry on Friday morning that a year 9 girl had been 'chased' up Queen's Park Road near the eastern suburbs school by a woman repeatedly shouting 'F--- the Jews' and 'free Palestine'. 'This was a child walking to school. She was terrified,' said Hasofer, adding that 'what was once repugnantly un-Australian has become disturbingly routine'. 'The unacceptable has been normalised,' she said. Hasofer said the school has been exposed to a 'relentless drip-feed of hate' since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and was averaging 'at least one security incident per week' this year. Loading The NSW Legislative Council launched an inquiry into antisemitism in NSW in February. Its purpose is to consider the 'underlying increasing incidents of antisemitism across the state, and the threat that these incidents present to social cohesion'. Hasofer revealed that, in the days after the October 7 attack, the school received an anonymous Instagram message which described the school as a 'disgrace' and said: 'I hope all the children, parents and staff get cancer and die a slow painful death, praise Hitler.' In a separate incident that year, a person drove past the school gates and 'gave a Nazi salute', while in September 2024, a man driving along the road adjacent to the school yelled 'F--- the Jews', and two men 'exposed themselves to our security cameras' in June, to 'intimidate Jewish children', she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Top silk called in as fate of Minns staff threatened with arrest remains undecided
The president of the NSW upper house will seek legal advice before deciding if he should seek arrest warrants for five political staffers who have refused to front an inquiry into the Dural caravan incident. NSW Legislative Council President Ben Franklin will meet with top barrister Bret Walker SC on Tuesday morning as he contemplates inquiry chair and independent MP Rod Roberts' request to seek arrest warrants for the staffers, including NSW Premier Chris Minns' chief of staff. Police allege the incident, which Minns described at the time as an act of terror that could have caused mass casualties, was the work of organised crime figures who allegedly orchestrated several antisemitic attacks across Sydney in a plot to gain leverage over police. Minns later revealed he had been briefed of the possible involvement of organised crime. The upper house inquiry is probing who knew what and when, and if the government raced to push the hate-laws through under false pretences. Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley were asked to appear before the inquiry, but because they are lower house MPs, they are not obliged and cannot be compelled to front the upper house. The committee then called the five staffers, which include Minns and Catley's chiefs of staff and senior advisers. When the staffers refused to appear at the inquiry, Roberts asked Franklin late on Friday to seek an arrest warrant. Esteemed constitutional expert Anne Twomey AO has posted a YouTube video about the subject, saying compelling lower house staffers to appear at an upper house inquiry and threatening them with arrest could be interpreted as breaching the legal principle that the two houses of parliament should respect each other and not 'act coercively against each other'. Her opinions drew the ire of MP Mark Latham, a long-time critic of the hate-laws in question, who used two YouTube accounts to criticise Twomey for her 'jaundiced and ill-informed contribution' in a spate of angry comments.
The Age
23-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Top silk called in as fate of Minns staff threatened with arrest remains undecided
The president of the NSW upper house will seek legal advice before deciding if he should seek arrest warrants for five political staffers who have refused to front an inquiry into the Dural caravan incident. NSW Legislative Council President Ben Franklin will meet with top barrister Bret Walker SC on Tuesday morning as he contemplates inquiry chair and independent MP Rod Roberts' request to seek arrest warrants for the staffers, including NSW Premier Chris Minns' chief of staff. Police allege the incident, which Minns described at the time as an act of terror that could have caused mass casualties, was the work of organised crime figures who allegedly orchestrated several antisemitic attacks across Sydney in a plot to gain leverage over police. Minns later revealed he had been briefed of the possible involvement of organised crime. The upper house inquiry is probing who knew what and when, and if the government raced to push the hate-laws through under false pretences. Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley were asked to appear before the inquiry, but because they are lower house MPs, they are not obliged and cannot be compelled to front the upper house. The committee then called the five staffers, which include Minns and Catley's chiefs of staff and senior advisers. When the staffers refused to appear at the inquiry, Roberts asked Franklin late on Friday to seek an arrest warrant. Esteemed constitutional expert Anne Twomey AO has posted a YouTube video about the subject, saying compelling lower house staffers to appear at an upper house inquiry and threatening them with arrest could be interpreted as breaching the legal principle that the two houses of parliament should respect each other and not 'act coercively against each other'. Her opinions drew the ire of MP Mark Latham, a long-time critic of the hate-laws in question, who used two YouTube accounts to criticise Twomey for her 'jaundiced and ill-informed contribution' in a spate of angry comments.
