The Latham Diaries (1 Viewer)

[withoutaface]

And this is precisely why the ALP will not win an election for at least 15 years. At a time when they should be capitalising on the instability within the Coalition they are self destructing.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

The interview is being broadcast right NOW. The injuntion was overturned?

It is lifted now, yes.

Not sure what his honour was doing... maybe just a temporary injunction until he heard detailed argument.

 

[erawamai]

And this is precisely why the ALP will not win an election for at least 15 years. At a time when they should be capitalising on the instability within the Coalition they are self destructing.

Sad indeed.

Did anyone know that the Liberals gagged debate on Telstra? Three of the four bills that constituted the sale of Telstra were not even debated as the Coalition used their numbers to bring it to an early vote.

I love democracy under the Howard government. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[withoutaface]

It's been up for debate for 9 years, I think the senators have had enough time to make up their minds.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Sad indeed.

Did anyone know that the Liberals gagged debate on Telstra? Three of the four bills that constituted the sale of Telstra were not even debated as the Coalition used their numbers to bring it to an early vote.

I love democracy under the Howard government. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

You mean there was no second reading speech? It's been a while since Public Law but isn't that against convention? I thought they could only do that by declaring it 'urgent' ...and even then there should be questions...?

 

[Rafy]

They did declare it urgent.

Abbott moved that the legislation, comprising of three bills, be considered as urgent and allotted approximately fourty-five minutes to debate all three.

 

[Generator]

It's been up for debate for 9 years, I think the senators have had enough time to make up their minds.

There is a difference between a policy being on the table when a Government does not hold the numbers and a number of bills being 'debated' by a Government with a slim majority, calculon.

 

[nwatts]

The interview is being broadcast right NOW. The injuntion was overturned?

Interesting stuff. Latham seemed very nervous to me. The way he answered was very... uneasy. It'd take him a fair bit of idle banter until he actually answered a question.

I still like him more than damned Beasley!

 

[Generator]

Hmmm...

That interview wasn't as negative or as contradictory as Denton made it out to be earlier today on the wireless.

I guess that we may have to wait another day for the Lateline interview.

Edit: Denton is now saying that Latham is emotionally unstable (not mentally unfit). That a bit of a contrast to what Tony Jones had to say about Latham yesterday on the radio following on from his interview with the person of the hour.

Edit 2: The transcript of the interview screened last night (and to be repeated this coming Monday) will appear shortly (see: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1461537.htm)

 

[Sepulchres]

Denton had him on the ropes (heh) a few times but he recovered well in the end. It seemed a bit repetitive sometimes or maybe thats because I got shots of it in tens late news prior to watching it. I still dont get why he did this to his party, which will have devastating effects, even if there is a whole new world behind the scenes. I think he sort of tried to avoid this idea of retaliation yet its well within the context of this book.

Otherwise, it was pretty good. The part about the handshakes was hilarious.

 

[Rafy]

The former Labor leader Mark Latham believes the party's health spokeswoman, Julia Gillard, should be leader and has dismissed Kim Beazley as unfit to clean the parliamentary toilets.

http://smh.com.au/news/national/latham-dump-kim-back-julia/2005/09/15/1126750082567.html

 

[leetom]

I don't understand Latham. For all his talk of his great vision for an Australia that has been undone by social evils (specifically lamenting "the cult of the individual" and the path of "materialism" in the Denton interview), why then, does he go and attempt to destroy the only thing capable of expunging those things?

Then he goes and tries to paint himself as a saint by "choosing the boys" over politics. His pathetic sense of nobility sees him devote himself entirely to his family while cutting himself off completely from the grand Labor visions he espoused throughout his leadership of the Opposition.

The Labor historian the 7:30 Report had on was accurate in describing Latham as a hideous product of the Party machine rather than a victim of it.

 

[Generator]

Today's The Australian is a paper that anyone with an interest in the diaries should read (bugger the Herald, and to a lesser extent The Age).


Out of the ring, but still punching

Mark Latham tells Paul Kelly and Michael Harvey of his joy at being a home dad and his relief at leaving behind the 'sick' political culture of the Labor Party

Well, as others (and Latham himself within the above piece, in part) have argued, it isn't as though much of what he is saying about the party itself is new as such, but it's a shame that the message wasn't exactly delivered in a somewhat constructive manner. However, that's to be expected given that diary entries are by their very nature personal and that he now feels the need to set down his own take on the events given what others have said (warranted or not). I'm also saddened by the fact that rather than taking something of use from the recent 'revelations', so many people appear to be thanking their lucky stars that Latham never became PM and that they avoided the possibility of their children being mauled in a taxi down near a Canberra nightclub after a raunchy buck's night. However, given the apparent obsession with personalities rather than policies (both within the ALP and society in general), that's also to be expected.

For what it's worth, my previous comments regarding Latham and Beazley still stand (for those who know of my thoughts as expressed within this forum, that is). I will add, though, that I'm not a party ideologue, and that even though I'm an actual outsider, I can more than understand the despair that Latham clearly feels whenever discussing the ALP. It is a sick institution that deserves the odd broadside, but we should remember that an attack on the current party is not an attack on what the ALP is meant to represent (something that nobody can articulate at the current time, it seems (positively, anyway)).

I could say much more, but I'm tired and my already poor english skills aren't exactly coming back up from that drain they went down an hour or two ago.

 

[erawamai]

It's been up for debate for 9 years, I think the senators have had enough time to make up their minds.

Thats like saying abortion has been in the public domain for 40 years. As such any change to the law does not require any debate in parliament.

 

[UGFighter]

I only caught the end of Enough Rope... but, I'm sceptical on Latham.

Did the party suddenly go to shit shortly after he lost the election?

He slams just about EVERYONE, it just doesn't add up to me.

I think Latham is mentally and emotionally weak, as well as very emotionally unresilient.

 

[frog12986]

The fact remains that the majority of people were fully aware of the character flaws of Mr Latham long before he made these scathing attacks. However, what I dont understand is that when taking this blatant fact into account, why on earth did the Labor Party ignorantly elect such a man to the leader of their party and present him as viable 'prime minister material'.
Surely those within the party, particularly those that were close to him, were completely aware of the problems of his personality and the in-fighting that was occurring between himself and others...

They always say that in-party politics is always the most treacherous...

 

[UGFighter]

I guess that only goes to prove that Australian politics are fucked up if he's elected to become leader of one of the major parties in Australia.

edit: does anyone plan on buying the book? I'd be interested to read it, but I doubt I'll fork out the cash to buy it.

 

[absolution*]

Latham's Diaries: An expression in political emoism.

 

[erawamai]

The fact remains that the majority of people were fully aware of the character flaws of Mr Latham long before he made these scathing attacks. However, what I dont understand is that when taking this blatant fact into account, why on earth did the Labor Party ignorantly elect such a man to the leader of their party and present him as viable 'prime minister material'.
Surely those within the party, particularly those that were close to him, were completely aware of the problems of his personality and the in-fighting that was occurring between himself and others...

The impression I got from the Barry Jones Interview on the 730 report was that yes, they knew. However they felt that they could control him. It turned out that he did not adhere to how he presented himself as leader to the party room. It should also be noted that it was a very slim vote in Latham's favour. Essentially one vote case by Robert McCllelend. He has stated that he regrets his decision to vote for Latham.

At the time the ALP didn't have much of a choice. Yes Latham had a history. But it was either him and a fresh start, reuse Beazley or go with Rudd.

As for a history or personal problems. I think many politicians have had them. In the past parties have been able to control these personality traits or the leader has been clever enough not to expose them. Gorton had a drinking problem. Hawke was a womaniser. Menzies was an anglophile and a Queen luvva. Fraser got caught with his pants down in a hotel lobby.

This shows how much we focus on the person rather than the policies which they spit out. It's sad that we have shifted so far to away from having a deep look at policy when voting to looking at whether we like the pollie as a person.

The Labor party failed to control Latham. From what it seems he didn't want to take any advice from anyone. He did not want to lead the Labor party with his peers but rather run it in a very authoritarian style. He fell on his own sword as a result.

-----

Barry Jones also pointed out that Latham was a result of the ALP party machine. It seems rather foolish to criticise the machine that put him there. In many ways Latham is evidence of the failure of the ALP machine to produce good talent.

 

[heybraham]

wow so latham was a family man who quit after disillusionment and bad health. the media really do make him look like such a big asshole