Mark Latham breaks silence on sending X-rated texts from parliament floor

WARNING: Graphic details

Embattled MP Mark Latham has defended sending X-rated texts from the NSW parliamentary chamber saying he was guilty only of being “human” and “male”.

Explosive new allegations about the behaviour of the former Labor leader emerged after a call log showing sexually explicit WhatsApp messages sent to his then-partner Nathalie Matthews was made public.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Mr Latham sent the messages during parliamentary question time on February 20, asking Ms Matthews for explicit photos and in a later exchange sending messages describing sex acts he wished to perform on her.

The pair ended their long-term relationship on May 27 and Ms Matthews has accused Mr Latham of physical and financial abuse as part of an application for a domestic violence order.

Allegations he has denied and labelled “comically false and ridiculous”.

Mr Latham said the leaked text exchanges had nothing to do with the AVO application made by Ms Matthews and hit out at “puritanical wowsers” who thought that there was anything wrong with them.

“If you’re sitting there listening to Penny Sharpe droning on, then a woman that looks like Nathalie Matthews sends you a message, which one would you pay attention to,” Mr Latham said on radio station 2SM on Wednesday, hours after news of the graphic text messages broke.

“Yes, I am guilty of that on a regular occasion, guilty too, of being human. In that regard, and male.”

But he claimed his “output as an MP matches up against anyone in the Upper House”.

“This now goes to some personal or political campaign to try and damage me. Well, the big news is I had a private life. I had a sex life that I’ve got to say was fantastic,” he said.

Mr Latham described the call logs as an “edited, inaccurate sequence of messages”.

“I think they’re talking about one day in the chamber. I’m not too sure I was in the chamber on each and every one of those occasions.

“If I’m the only person in Australia who is in a work environment is engaged in a bit of a playful sex talk with their partner, then I’ll buy everyone a lottery ticket tomorrow.

“As a colleague said to me this morning, boy, if I check the phones of every MP, Federal and State Mark, you’re uh you’re not Robinson Crusoe. And maybe there’s a glass house of effect going on as well.”

Mr Latham won a seat in the NSW upper house as a One Nation representative in 2019. He was re-elected in 2023, then quit the far-right party to become an independent after falling out with party founder Pauline Hanson.

Among the text exchanges sent by Mr Latham, one read, “Masters c**k needs relief too. Very hard thinking about you” this was followed by a series of emojis that imply an explicit sex act.

Twelve minutes later another text followed, “Haven’t c*m in days”. A response to that message read, “It needs my touch to f**k and suck**”

He fired back “ Lots of c**k tension”.

The call log also shows an exchange on June 6, with Mr Latham referring to a “heinous monster” that “physically attacked him”.

The text reads, ”I reported the attack on me and the other threats you made that night to parliamentary security, as I am obliged to do”.

A response to that message reads, “what i did not do any such things?”

Mr Latham: “They advised me not to have contact with you except for admin things and any public postings”

Response: “Voice call, no answer. This is a personal matter why can’t we talk about it.”

The exchanges go on to detail Mr Latham’s desire for a “permanent separation”.

Allegations made by Ms Matthews in her application for a violence restraining order include Mr Latham “Defecating on me before sex and refusing to let me wash, forcing degrading sexual acts, pressuring me to engage in sexual acts with others, demanding I call him ‘master’, telling me I was his property, and repeatedly telling me that my only value to him was for sex to demean and control me.”

They go on, “Physical violence, including pushing me against walls, forcing me out the door, throwing a plate at me during an argument, and driving at me with his vehicle, hitting me with the side mirror and causing a bruise.”

The Nightly is not suggesting the allegations are true, only that they have been made and that Ms Matthews is making an application for a domestic violence order.

Ms Matthews lodged the private AVO application with the NSW Local Court and the case is listed for its first mention on July 30.

Mr Latham took to X on Monday night to deny the allegations, which he called “false and ridiculous”.

“The Australian newspaper has published a story based on allegations from Nathalie Matthews which are comically false and ridiculous,” he wrote.

“I have scores of documents to show that and will rely upon them to defend myself. As the old saying goes, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

“The story says that Matthews went to the police and they did not do anything. They certainly haven’t contacted me.

“In the current environment, that says a lot. She told me in April she had been to police seeking an AVO against another man and complained that they did nothing.”

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