Nice One NSW, We’ve Managed To Elect Mark Latham

Yesterday’s NSW election had some pretty unexpected results. Gladys and the Liberals pretty decisively won what was supposed to be an incredibly close election, and it now looks like Mark Latham has won a seat in the Senate.

Quite frankly, NSW, we need to talk.

While Senate counting is still underway, it looks like One Nation will end up with at least one, possibly even two seats in the NSW Upper House. Mark Latham was at the top of the One Nation ballot this year, so that first seat will go to him.

Latham, in case you’ve forgotten, is an absolute scumbag. One of his policies going into this election was forcing Indigenous people to take DNA tests in order to prove their Aboriginality — a policy that is both racist and scientifically inaccurate, and has been widely condemned by the Indigenous community. He voted against marriage equality, spouting some extraordinary harmful (and inaccurate) propaganda along the way, and has continued to make hateful comments about trans kids (as recently as last week).

I can't believe #MarkLatham is back in parliament. What is wrong with you NSW?

— Dr Mandy Truong (@mandy_tru) March 23, 2019

The list goes on. Earlier this year Latham had to pay thousands in damages and costs after settling a high-profile defamation suit brought by Osman Faruqi, who sued Latham in 2017 over a video that Faruqi claimed implied he was an anti-white racist who encouraged terrorists.

Latham is now being sued for defamation over his comments about a 26-year-old university student who has been cleared of terrorism charges.

Mark Latham.

I keep starting tweets.

Then deleting.

Then starting again.

Latham was exposed for harrassing women online. He made the calculating decision to openly embrace his white supremacy.

Platformed on DNA testing of Aboriginal people. Still won a seat. ? NSW.

— MJ Leaver (@MJ_Leaver) March 23, 2019

I woke up this morning to find that Dingo Twitter and the other RWNJs have been emboldened by Mark Latham's win. The fascists, racists, white nationalists, homophobes and misogynists are coming out of the woodwork.

Thanks a lot NSW.

— Claire G. Coleman (@clairegcoleman) March 23, 2019

Normally, we’d stop here, and not bother giving Latham any more of a platform. But overnight, things have changed: the state of NSW has managed to give Latham not just a platform but a seat in Parliament, complete with taxpayer-funded salary, travel allowance, staffers and more.

This comes after fourteen blissful years of Latham-free Parliament — he was last in office as leader of the Labor Party in 2005. A lot has changed since then, none of it good. In his decade or so as a political commentator, Latham has bounced from scandal to scandal. Lowlights include the time he described domestic violence as a “coping mechanism”, and the time he got sacked by Sky News after a few too many offensive comments.

His return to politics has only been a recent move: back in 2017 he briefly joined the Liberal Democrats, and he only joined One Nation four months ago in November 2018.

Now he’s representing them in NSW Parliament, with all the platform and power that entails. And the people of NSW freely decided to put him there. Oh, and did we mention that Upper House terms go for eight years? 

Nice work, NSW. Look closely at what you’ve done.

Hello white ppl tweeting about immigrants being elected to office, women premiers blah blah. A man who proposed DNA testing First Nations peoples, supports travel bans to Muslim countries and voted against marriage equality is now an elected member of NSW parliament. So stop.

— Isy with one 's' (@yodaberg) March 23, 2019

The Liberals win a third term, Mark Latham wins a seat in the upper house for One Nation…..Hey NSW, there is something more embarrassing than losing 9 Origins in a row. #Blues #nswvotes #auspol

— Seano (@SeanBradbery) March 23, 2019