Chairman’s Club to Court: Latham’s explosive threats

Maverick member of the NSW parliament, Mark Latham, has threatened to take the Australian Turf Club to court in a series of tweets after being escorted from Randwick by police on Saturday.

Under his X handle of @realmarklatham, Latham claimed reporting of the situation was incorrect, which had quoted an Australian Turf Club official.

”The ATC let me in with my guest pass through three checkpoints: the main gate, the members entrance and into the Chairman’s Club. These people are habitual lies (sic), as we will find out in court,” Latham tweeted.

He claimed he was greeted by an ATC director and welcomed at the gate by staff when he arrived. He also claimed that he had been to a race meeting at Rosehill last month without incident.

“Unlike those I will be suing for the decisions they took today. After an ATC Director went out of her way to greet me, discuss relevant matters and made no mention of any problem whatsoever with me being on-course. And I have never been notified of such, had a hearing or process about my rights as a guest of an ATC member, as I was today. Plus I was at Rosehill 4 weeks ago as a guest of a member, not a word said all day. Outrageous,” he tweeted.

And then added: “The first I heard of a concern was when an ATC staffer came up during the running of a race (sacrilegious) to say “there’s a board decision showing that you’re not welcome here”. I replied that can’t be true because less than a hour earlier, one of 4 ATC directors greeted me warmly, asked for my advice and did not say a word about any such decision. I didn’t leave because the request was BS. The guy couldn’t produce any document to support his claim, so naturally I ignored him. An ATC member had invited me to Randwick, given me a valid guest pass, so why would I throw that away?”

Latham, who was an outspoken opponent of the Rosehill sale, had faced disciplinary proceedings by the club after a run-in with now interim chief executive Steve McMahon during the autumn carnival at the height of the Rosehill Sale debate.

He also had to face a hearing at Racing NSW about his conduct.

Latham tweeted “my mere presence sets off human alarm bells and panic” at the ATC.

The club was contacted with an official saying it wouldn’t make any comment.