Mark Latham has emphatically denied allegations of abuse and manipulation made in court documents by a former partner seeking an apprehended violence order against him after her claims were reported in the media. In the documents filed in support of the application, Matthews reportedly claims Latham engaged in a “sustained pattern” of abuse, including emotional, psychological and financial manipulation. In a statement posted on X, Latham said Matthews’ claims were “comical and ridiculous”, adding he had “scores of documents to show that” and would rely on those documents to defend himself. Guardian Australia does not suggest that the claims against Latham are true, just that they have been made in the course of an application for a domestic violence order and will be contested in court. Labor’s upper house leader, Penny Sharpe, said on Tuesday the claims were “allegations, and obviously, I can’t make too much of them”.