NSW independent MP Alex Greenwich on Thursday flagged he would proceed with his threat to sue the NSW One Nation leader for defamation over the “extremely defamatory” tweet posted in March.

A deadline for Latham to apologise for the tweet passed at 5pm on Wednesday.

Greenwich said he had received a letter from Latham’s lawyers saying they would not accept his offer to resolve the situation outside of court and “no apology has been received”.

Greenwich has instructed his lawyers to begin defamation proceedings, with the filing of a claim expected in in the Federal Court “in the coming days”.

The tweet which has been deleted was widely condemned by politicians across the spectrum, including One Nation federal leader Pauline Hanson and Premier Chris Minns, who said Labor would not work with Latham to pass legislation in the upper house.

Greenwich has also lodged a complaint of homosexual vilification and sexual harassment against Latham with Anti-Discrimination NSW which is being investigated.

The One Nation MP is also being investigated by NSW Police after Greenwich complained of being harassed online.

“This is not a process I enter into lightly, and a process I wish I didn’t have to engage in,” Greenwich said on Thursday.

“However, Mr Latham’s homophobic, sexualised attack has exposed me to contempt, ridicule and extreme abuse based on my sexuality, and demands actions,” he said.

“It’s 2023 and LGBTQIA+ Australians shouldn’t have to put up with abuse that targets our sexuality, character, or ability to do our jobs.”

-AAP