message to Ms Silmalis, however, was obviously sent in response to some form of request or question, and was as follows:
Sorry for not getting back to you. Here's my response:
Sometimes, in public life, when they throw out insults, they come back at you harder and truer, so boohoo, Alex Greenwich. When he calls someone a disgusting human being for attending a meeting in a church hall, maybe attention will turn to some of his habits.
Why delete the tweets? Greenwich goes into schools talking to kids about being gay. I didn't want to be accused of anything similar, leaving that kind of content on my socials.
55 This statement was referred to by the parties as "the DT quotes". I will adopt the same description.
56 The DT quotes were included by Ms Silmalis in an online article published by The Daily Telegraph on 1 April 2023 at 1:38pm with the headline "Mark Latham doubles down after outcry over his homophobic tweet".
57 The DT quotes were the second impugned publication.
58 The DT quotes were also reported in articles published by a number of other online mainstream media publications including Sky News Australia, News.com.au, The Guardian and The Daily Mail Australia (and which were annexed to Mr Greenwich's first affidavit as Annexures AG52 to 55).
Events after the publications
59 Mr Greenwich instructed his lawyers to send a letter to Mr Latham on 19 April 2023, containing a concerns notice in accordance with the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) (the Act). By that letter, Mr Greenwich made an offer of settlement in which he sought, among other things, an apology from Mr Latham.
60 On 27 April 2023, TNT Radio broadcast an interview between Chris Smith, host of The Chris Smith Show, and Mr Latham. During the interview, Mr Latham stated, inter alia: "I told [Mr Greenwich] what I thought was disgusting and I speak for a lot of straight men, Chris, in saying that the idea of having anal sex with another man would make you vomit … The basic natural reality is that we don't go for anal sex with blokes and it's pukeworthy". A full transcript of the TNT Radio interview was annexed to Mr Greenwich's statement of claim as Schedule C, and an audio recording of the interview was annexed to Mr Greenwich's first affidavit and marked Exhibit AG-59.
