Latham's court act on tech billionaire
Nathalie May Matthews did not appear before Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday after applying for a private apprehended violence order (AVO) against the one-time NSW One Nation leader.
Ms Matthews alleges Mr Latham abused her and forced her into degrading sex acts, though the exact allegations have not been released by the court and no criminal charges have been laid by NSW Police.
Mr Latham has denied the allegations since they first came to light. Mark Latham's ex-fiancee Nathalie Matthews. Instagram/@nathaliemaymatthews Credit: Supplied
His lawyer, Zali Burrows, told magistrate Susan Horan on Wednesday morning that Mr Latham was applying for two subpoenas, one for Ms Matthews and a second for Richard White – both of which were opposed.
Lawyer Nicholas Olson, who is representing Mr White, told the court that he would be seeking to have the subpoena set aside at a hearing or, failing that, applying for a suppression order over the court material.
The second subpoena filed by Mr Latham for Ms Matthews will also be contested, with her lawyer telling Ms Horan that she would be filing an application to have the order set aside later next month. Lawyer Zali Burrows said she was 'very confident' about beating the AVO. NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers Credit: News Corp Australia
The court was told the AVO application, similar to a restraining order and enforced by the court, would be contested, meaning Mr Latham intends to fight the application in court.
When asked outside court if she was confident about beating the AVO application, Ms Burrows told the media: 'Yes, I'm very confident.'
In NSW, recipients of a private AVO application can agree to the orders without any admission of guilt.
Alternatively, police can also make an application on someone's behalf, which they have not done in Ms Matthews' case. Mark Latham has denied the accusations and any wrongdoing. NewsWire/ Jeremy Piper. Credit: News Corp Australia
The allegations, which were first reported in The Australian, kicked off a bruising few weeks of controversy for Mr Latham, who in the early 2000s was poised to become the Labor prime minister.
Mr Latham has been separately accused of sending sexually explicit messages from the parliament chambers, sex acts in his parliament office, and secretly photographing female colleagues.
The independent MLC has denied breaching parliamentary rules and has not been formally accused of wrongdoing.
In the past few weeks, he has apologised to two parliamentarians and claimed to have no knowledge of any videos of sex acts allegedly performed in his office at NSW parliament.
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