Latham axed as One Nation leader, blames Hanson for ‘bizarre’ takeover
By Olivia Ireland, Alexandra Smith and Anthony Segaert
One Nation MP Mark Latham has defied party figurehead Pauline Hanson, claiming she acted without following due process when she declared his NSW leadership position vacant.
The national leader on Monday said the party’s national executive had decided last week to establish a new NSW state executive without Latham – which he described as a “bizarre” takeover.
Mark Latham has been pushed out as leader of NSW One Nation, and has accused Pauline Hanson of not following due process.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen/Dominic Lorrimer
Latham insisted he remains the leader of the party’s parliamentary team, which consists of himself and party colleagues Rod Roberts and former Labor MP Tania Mihailuk.
“The decision to try to abolish the position of NSW One Nation parliamentary leader is bizarre, mirroring something the Greens do in the NSW parliament,” he posted on Facebook.
Hanson now sits on the state executive and said its “priority is a comprehensive review of the party’s organisation ahead of future election campaigns, with a focus on the relationship between the organisation and parliamentary wings of the party, and the performance of the parliamentary wing”.
“No one has been sacked as a member of One Nation,” she said.
Latham said Hanson had used the national executive powers of One Nation to take over the NSW branch, and had acted without following due process or consultation. He said people from Queensland and Tasmania had been installed on the NSW executive “who did not lift a finger to help” during the March election campaign.
“I remain as the leader of our parliamentary team,” he said. “Over the past five years we have built up [the NSW party] into the largest One Nation parliamentary party in the country – so where’s the problem?”
Latham said the state election result in March was behind Hanson’s actions.
“Hanson’s sole justification for this takeover is our upper house vote, which fell by 1 per cent in March,” he said.
“Yet our 6 per cent result was still 2 per cent ahead of the NSW Senate result last year in a campaign Hanson herself headed.
“In Queensland, Hanson’s Senate vote fell by 3 per cent, and she only just scrapped in for re-election. If she is worried about under-performance, her best solution is to buy a mirror.”
In an unusual move, Latham quit the upper house to recontest the top of the One Nation ticket in March, in a bid to boost the number of MPs the party has in the Legislative Council.
Ultimately, he scored only one extra spot, with Mihailuk filling the vacancy created by his resignation. He also restarted his eight-year term in the upper house.
On March 30, Hanson condemned Latham for tweeting a highly graphic and offensive comment aimed at Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich, who is gay. This masthead has chosen not to publish the words contained in the tweet.
Hanson released a video message saying she had tried to call and text Latham “to no avail” after he released the tweet.
In May, in Hanson’s first interview since decrying Latham, the One Nation leader threw her support behind Latham, saying he was “doing an excellent job”.
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