Reporter: I just have one more thing to confirm, the projectiles being thrown, were they being thrown at police or at the protestors or both? Police: With, well at this stage it appears that it was at both of them. The police were standing directly in front of the protest group to protect them, so. Reporter: Sorry, just to clarify, you had spoken to Mr Latham before, there was evidence that we heard before that there was a significant response being prepared in response to these protests. Can you just walk us through why police didn't do more earlier? Police: There was no indication that this was going to be a violent event at all. We had sufficient resources for the information that had been gathered. We had worked with the event organisers. We had worked with the protesters. It was only a very small group of protesters and the church had also spoken to their congregation and the people attending to ensure that no violence would occur. So what happened is very disappointing and we were able to gather quickly a number of police resources to ensure a sufficient response to the incident.
17 Mr Latham posted the following string of tweets on 21 March 2023, from about 6:05pm onwards, about the events in Belfield (each bullet point denoting a separate, subsequent tweet):
- How bad are these LGBTQ Alphabet protesters? I'm under police orders regarding access to my speaking event at a Sydney church tonight. A denial of democracy.
- Fancy stopping an election candidate, an MP of 15 years standing, from entering a church to talk about election issues! The new Rainbow [rainbow emoji] Fascism.
- It's unacceptable for anyone to blockade access to a church. I went in via the Belfield Bowling Club, away from the front street. The church hall I entered was full of women, a peaceful gathering, where, ultimately, I gave a speech about important election issues.
- Issues I spoke on were religious freedom, parental rights, school education and protecting non-Govt schools from Alphabet Activism and lawfare. The police told me there had been violence on the front street, so I thoroughly condemned that and urged everyone to disperse peacefully.
- To not give my speech, to go straight home, would have allowed the transgender protesters to cancel my free speech and democratic rights as an election candidate, things that are sacred to me and have been for 35 years in running for elections, local, Federal and State.
- I didn't see what happened on the front street, but I sincerely convey my best wishes to those injured and thank the police officers for their work. No one should take the law into their own hands. Violence at political events is wrong.
- We should sort out our differences peacefully at the ballot box as we are doing in NSW this Saturday.
- Any other approach is unacceptable and counter-productive in a democracy.
Greenwich v Latham [2024] FCA 1050
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