Mark Latham removed as NSW One Nation leader by Pauline Hanson

One Nation MP Mark Latham has announced in a Facebook post that he has been removed as the party’s state leader for New South Wales.

In his Facebook post, Latham says that One Nation’s federal leader Pauline Hanson had removed him from the post last Wednesday “without consultation or due process.”

“Senator Hanson has installed a new state executive with no leader”, said Latham.

He remains a member of One Nation.

Hanson, who is also a senator in the federal parliament, said via a statement that the party has chosen to appoint a new NSW leader “following the recent state election which saw [One Nation’s] vote drop by 14 per cent”.

“The national executive of the party has also declared vacant the position of NSW parliamentary leader while the review takes place.”

However, in his post, Latham states that he remains the leader of the “parliamentary team”.

The news follows controversy in March, when Latham made graphic and homophobic comments on social media against Independent NSW MP Alex Greenwich.

Latham later deleted the social media post.

In May, Greenwich sued Latham for defamation, alleging that Latham’s comments showed that he is not a fit and proper person to serve in Parliament.

Hanson also condemned Latham’s comments, beginning a rift between the pair.

“I want you to know that I don’t condone them [Latham’s comments], and neither do my members of parliament or party associates,” said Hanson via online video. “I think they are disgusting.”

Hanson also called on Latham to apologise.

Earlier this month, Mark Latham’s defense in Greenwich’s case is that he was expressing an “honest opinion” and that his initial comment related to a “matter of public interest”.

Latham will also argue that the comments were made using “qualified privilege”, responding to an “attack” Greenwich made against him in the media.