- (e) the affidavit of Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator for South Australia and member of the Australian Greens party, affirmed 20 February 2024; and
- (f) the affidavit of the Honourable Gregory Michael Piper, independent member for Lake Macquarie in the NSW Legislative Assembly, affirmed 22 February 2024.
5 Only Mr Greenwich was required for cross-examination.
6 Mr Latham did not give evidence.
7 Dr M J Collins AM KC appeared with Ms S Jeliba of counsel for Mr Greenwich. Mr K Smark SC appeared with Mr B Dean of counsel for Mr Latham.
THE FACTS
8 The series of events which have led to these proceedings were largely not a matter of dispute between the parties. They were set out in Mr Greenwich's first affidavit.
9 On 3 March 2023, the NSW Parliament entered "caretaker" mode, in advance of a state election called for Saturday, 25 March 2023.
10 Throughout February 2023, before the election was called, Mr Latham made a number of posts on social media relating to Mr Greenwich, exhibited to Mr Greenwich's first affidavit as Annexure AG-17. These included tweets posted by Mr Latham on his Twitter (now known as "X") account using the handle @RealMarkLatham, often containing a photograph of Mr Greenwich with a caption, such as:
The green independent Alex Greenwich, pictured here on the right, is the MP Dominic Perrottet and the Liberal Party look to in making families policy, such as:
1. Gender fluidity teaching in schools
2. Banning parents, priests and counsellors from advising and trying to assist transgender children
3. Spending huge amounts of taxpayers money on the promotion of LGBTIQ
4. Reducing community clubs grants for local junior sport.
How can anyone trust Greenwich and the NSW Liberals and Nationals with the future of their children?
The Belfield incident
11 On 21 March 2023, four days before the election, Mr Latham attended by invitation an event at the St Michael's Catholic Church in Belfield, a suburb approximately 15 kilometres west of Sydney. Mr Latham posted on social media that he attended the event at the church to speak
