Mark Latham

Mark William Latham (born February 28, 1961) is a former Australian politician who served as leader of the federal parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005. Latham captured national attention and high levels of public approval with his innovative policies and unconventional approach, but also attracted controversy surrounding his colourful past. In the October 2004 federal election, Latham was defeated by the incumbent Prime Minister John Howard. Ill health and deteriorating relations with his own party forced him to step down as Leader on 18 January, 2005. In September, Latham released a set of diaries in which he attacked many of his former colleagues and members of the media, as well as condemning the general state of political life in Australia.

2004 election

Until March 2004 Labor under Latham's leadership held a strong lead in national opinion polls. Latham's commitment to withdraw from Iraq caused a sharp drop in Labor's lead, but following the revelations of prisoner abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison, however, Labor's lead increased again, suggesting that support for involvement in Iraq had declined, undermining Howard's position.

Related Topics:
2004 - Abu Ghraib

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In June 2004, Labor's "troops home by Christmas" policy came under fire from U.S. President George W. Bush who, at a White House press conference during Howard's visit to Washington, described it as "disastrous." Bush's comments raised controversy in Australia over whether Bush was interfering in Australia's domestic political affairs, whether the election of a Latham government would endanger the U.S. alliance, and whether the comments were made with or without Howard's prior knowledge.

Related Topics:
2004 - George W. Bush - White House - Washington

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Shortly after, Latham announced the recruitment of Peter Garrett, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation and former lead singer with the rock band Midnight Oil, as a Labor candidate in Kingsford Smith, a safe Sydney electorate being vacated by the retiring former minister Laurie Brereton. Garrett revealed that he had been approached by senior ALP figures including John Faulkner and Kim Beazley months before, and had taken this long to make up his mind. Most commentators regarded his recruitment as a high-risk tactic, seeing the potential advantage to Labor of Garrett's popularity among young people as being offset by the possibility that his record of radical and anti-American statements in the past would offend moderate voters.

Related Topics:
Peter Garrett - Australian Conservation Foundation - Midnight Oil - Kingsford Smith - Laurie Brereton

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The second coup scored by Latham was the announcement that he would abolish the generous superannuation schemes available to Members of Parliament; his plan was quickly adopted by the Howard government in the face of a rising wave of public support.

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Other policies and initiatives announced included: the introduction of federal government parenting classes for those parents deemed to be failing to adequately discipline their children; a ban on food and drink advertising during children's television viewing hours; the introduction of a national youth mentoring programme; the government distribution of free storybooks to the families of newborn children; a federal ban on plastic shopping bags; and the introduction of legislation to prohibit vilification on the basis of religious beliefs or sexual orientation, similar to laws adopted in the state of Victoria that some critics say led to a restriction of free speech. Some of these initiatives prompted Prime Minister John Howard to criticise Latham as a "behavioural policeman".

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In July 2004 Latham again became the centre of controversy when it was alleged on a commercial television network that he had punched a political rival during his time on Liverpool Council. Latham strongly denied the accusation. On 6 July he called a press conference and denounced the government for maintaining what he called a "dirt unit," which he said was gathering personal material about him, including details of his failed first marriage. The government denied that any such unit existed, but some observers speculated that Liberal Party researchers had accumulated more potentially embarrassing material about Latham, which would be used during the election campaign, in addition to claims that Latham was an inexperienced economic manager.

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From March to August Latham's position in the opinion polls gradually declined, leading to renewed speculation that Howard would call an election. During August Labor had a tactical victory over the government on the issue of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and there were revelations in a Senate inquiry that Howard had lied about the children overboard affair during the 2001 election campaign. By mid-August Labor was again ahead in all three national opinion polls. On 18 August, however, Latham was admitted to a Sydney hospital, where he was diagnosed with pancreatitis.

Related Topics:
U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement - Children overboard affair - 2001 election campaign - 18 August - Pancreatitis

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The elections were held on 9 October. Although opinion polls showed the ALP leading the government at various stages of the six-week campaign, and although Latham was generally credited with a strong performance and a victory in the sole campaign debate, the government was re-elected with an increased majority. In the days after the election Latham was criticised for releasing many key policies too late, a case in point being Labor's policy regarding conservation of Tasmanian old growth forests.

Related Topics:
9 October - Tasmania - Old growth

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Among those critical of Latham were commentators Tom Allard and Mark Metherell who said that "the flurry of releases meant Mr Latham went 'off message' from Labor's core strengths of health and education." Labor party president Carmen Lawrence blamed the unexpected severity of the defeat on an effective Coalition "scare campaign" focused on Latham's limited economic management experience, and the alleged threat of a rise in interest rates under Labor, which was not effectively countered. Michael Costello, a former chief of staff to Kim Beazley, said: "This is a complete train wreck. We now face at least two terms before we can win government again. We face at least three years with John Howard pretty much in control of the Senate."

Related Topics:
Carmen Lawrence - Interest rate

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On the morning of 8 October, the day before the election, a television crew filmed Latham and Howard shaking hands as they crossed paths outside an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio studio in Sydney. The footage showed Latham appearing to draw Howard towards him and tower over his shorter opponent. The incident received wide media coverage and, while Latham claimed to have been attempting to get revenge for Howard squeezing his wife's hand too hard at a press function, it was variously reported as being "aggressive", "bullying" and "intimidating" on the part of Latham. The Liberal party campaign director Brian Loughnane later claimed that this incident provided more feedback to Liberal headquarters than anything else during the six week campaign, and that it "brought together all the doubts and hesitations that people had about Mark Latham".

Related Topics:
8 October - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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