Firebrand MP Mark Latham has called for the legal system to be changed after his ex-girlfriend cited a sustained pattern of alleged abuse in her application for a protection order before a court.
Natalie May Matthews, 38, has applied for a private apprehended violence order to protect her from the one-time federal Labor opposition leader whom she has accused of years of manipulation.
Mr Latham, who now sits as an independent in the NSW upper house, vigorously rejects her allegations.
He has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
The MP, who is also an ex-NSW One Nation leader, and his former partner didn't interact as they sat on opposite sides of a courtroom in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Wednesday.
Mr Latham's silence didn't last long as he fronted the media outside court to declare the allegations against him were "scurrilous and false".
Apprehended violence orders can be taken out by either NSW Police or private citizens, as Matthews has opted to do.
But Mr Latham called for a change to the legislation involving private AVO applications.
"It makes me feel, as a legislator, as a parliamentarian, there's something wrong with the legal system," he said.
The application is due to be aired in a three-day hearing in May.
"We'll wait for all the evidence to come out," Matthews' lawyer Daniel Wakim said when leaving court.
During her court appearance on Wednesday, Matthews also pleaded not guilty to accessing restricted data, and intentionally recording and distributing an intimate image without consent.
The managing director of a global logistics firm is accused of accessing intimate photos without authorisation and recording and distributing an intimate image of a person without their consent in October last year.
The alleged victim cannot be identified for legal reasons.
The former OnlyFans creator will return to court in November over the allegations.
She is on bail with strict conditions, which bar her from applying for a new passport or contacting any prosecution witnesses, except through a lawyer.
Her former partner, Mr Latham, has served as a right-wing independent MP since 2023 after a falling out with Senator Pauline Hanson and his departure as One Nation NSW leader.
He helped the right-wing populist party's return to state politics in 2019, 15 years after his failed attempt to lead Labor to federal election victory.
After losing to incumbent prime minister John Howard in 2004, Mr Latham resigned from federal parliament and was later ejected from the Labor party.
He has been embroiled in several recent scandals, including taking photos of female MPs without their knowledge, for which he has already apologised.
Calls to remove his official portrait from Labor's federal party room resulted in the addition of a sign which explains he has been barred from the party for life.
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