Posted on 09/18/2005 3:07:58 PM PDT by naturalman1975
'It is not unusual for people who try to change the system to leave public life with feelings of betrayal and disappointment. This was certainly my experience as Labor leader. My commitment to the Labor cause was destroyed by the bastardry of others.'
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2003
Yesterday I had coffee with Beazley in Perth. After the ballot, I offered him a spot on the front bench, but he said he wasn't interested: "That's it for me, that was my last shot. I'll just drift away from things now." That's Beazley code for saying, "I'll stay on the back bench to see if you fall flat on your face?"
Silly Kim. If he hadn't destabilised Crean and stumbled into the first challenge he would be leader right now. All he had to do was wait and accept the call-up of a grateful party as Simon fell over. For a military buff, especially an expert on the American Civil War, he forgot the advice of Ulysses S. Grant: "The best man for the job does not go after the job. He waits to be called."
SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2004
Saw the enemy today in the Trust Box at the SCG for Australia versus India, Steve Waugh's last test. Howard looked constipated as usual – he always has that worried look on his face. His wife, however, seems a nice lady. She gets a bum rap in the media, from what I saw today ... The Trust Box is a hoot, presided over by "Lord" Rodney Cavalier. [Former NSW Labor minister] Cavalier is Labor in theory but elitist in practice – a modern Labor trend, common in the likes of Carr, Jones, Evans and Rudd. Give me Curtin/Chifley-style austerity any day. In fact, give me the SCG Hill any day.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24
Rudd, the king of the caveats. He gave them to Simon and now he wants to give them to me. He sounds incomprehensible in the media whenever he talks about Iraq ... Initially, Rudd wanted our policy on the troops to be a review when we get into government. Imagine the pounding we would have taken on such a wishy-washy stance, so I overruled him and said yesterday that we wanted them home by Christmas. I've had a firm position on every other issue and it's worked for me; why not this one? Macklin agrees. During Caucus yesterday she said, "Oh yes, we need a firm position, we can't afford to do what Simon and Kevin did before the war." That stinking, rotten war – we should never have been there in the first place.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14
I've had a suspicion for some time now that Rudd has been feeding material to [Laurie] Oakes. Decided to set him up, telling Kevvie about our focus groups on Iraq. No such research exists – [ALP national secretary Tim] Gartrell says he's doing some quantitative polling but not focus groups. Today, right on cue, Jabba has written in The Bulletin: "The Labor Party's polling firm has been busily running focus groups to test the public mood following Latham's 'troops-out' announcement. The most significant finding, I understand, is overwhelming support for the alliance with the United States."
Trapped him. Two weeks ago in New Zealand I announced our intention to have a Minister for the Pacific Islands. That's the job I'll give Rudd if we win. Joel [Fitzgibbon, Federal Member for Hunter] thinks I'm joking, but I'm deadly serious. Rudd is a terrible piece of work: addicted to the media and leaking. A junior minister in government, at best.
TUESDAY, APRIL 27
Nothing to cheer me up in Melbourne town, least of all our meeting with Bracks this morning, accompanied by Faulkner, Crean and McMullan. We tried to get him to reverse his broken promise on the Scoresby Freeway. He went to the last state election promising a freeway and, as soon as he won, announced a tollway. No wonder people hate politics and politicians ...
Bracks, however, was unmoved, even when Faulkner put it right on him: "The stakes are high in what we are talking about. You need to know, Steve, this could be the difference between forming a federal Labor government and falling a few seats short. You need to think about how history will see that." Yes, a day of deep and abiding Labor history, as Bracks refused to help, not budging an inch. Sat there like a statue, that silly grin on his face.
SUNDAY, MAY 30
At the end of tonight's dinner, Danger [Laurie Brereton] wanted to see me outside. He dropped a bombshell on me: he's going to retire at the next election. My right-hand man is pulling the pin, leaving me stranded. I don't see how I can survive without him: his steady point of view, his dislike of the machine men, his sound instincts and impeccable loyalty.
FRIDAY, JUNE 4
Just a piece of trivia for the diary today: I was attacked by the world's most powerful man, the US president ...
What does this prove? Hopefully pride inside the Latham family. My grandparents taught me to stand up to the powerful. When I said I was anti-Establishment, I meant it. It's not just a political ethos, it's in my blood, a way of life. If it's still the Australian way, I will win the election. If not, what the people are saying is that they don't mind being an American colony under Howard. That's a nation not worth leading.
SATURDAY, JULY 10
Under pressure all week from Gartrell and Faulkner to make the reshuffle more substantial. They want me to move Crean and make Rudd the shadow treasurer, putting Beazley into foreign affairs. Their great fear is that the Coalition will target Simon during the campaign ...
That's Tim's hierarchy of fear: negative advertising about Simon, my inexperience and Liverpool Council. He's upbeat about bringing back the Bomber: "I know he's weak and doesn't stand for much, but the punters like him – no doubt about that from our research. This will be a plus for us, no matter what job you give him."
SATURDAY, JULY 31
We can't win. Tim faxed through the latest research (polling and focus group analysis) this afternoon, a lengthy report from [Labor pollster John] Utting about our political situation, with a set of recommendations on how to get back into the race. It makes for bleak reading: all the trends are running Howard's way. Our lead has been cut to 51/49 – not enough to win government.
I read the report and then went out to the backyard to break the bad news to Mum and Janine, to get them used to the idea of defeat. Mum doesn't believe it, and Janine still sounds optimistic ... Utting is no fool; the subtext of his report is that we are now pitching at a respectable defeat ... I have nothing to lose, so I might as well fire up.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 22
I had never heard of pancreatitis until it ripped out my guts last Tuesday ... Now the whole future of my health and longevity is up in the air, with a federal election just around the corner ...
Is politics killing me? I used to be so fit; triathlons in my twenties. Then I went into politics: local government gave me testicular cancer, and now federal politics has given me pancreatitis. On top of that: weight gain, man boobs ridicule, irregular hours, too much travel, not enough exercise. Somebody save me, I want to be fit again ...
I asked the specialist what happens if your pancreas conks out – do you get a new one or something? He replied, "No, you die. You can't live without a functioning pancreas and there is no way of replacing it. Unfortunately, in this area, medical science is no more advanced than it was 30 years ago. The only way of recovering from an attack is rest and a controlled diet. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes it doesn't. In severe cases, it can kill you."
In a strange sort of way, it felt worse than when I was first told about my cancer ten years ago.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10
How bad is this? Just finished a family BBQ at home, and the scale of last night's disaster is still sinking in. Everyone's okay, except for the obvious. Sinking: that's the word for it. All my emotions drained by the reality of defeat and despair ...
For the first time in six weeks, I had a chance to stop and think, and reality sank in. We had been smashed in the advertising campaign. I worked my ringer out on the road, but didn't pay enough attention to the other half of the campaign: TV advertising ... For the last two weeks of the campaign, Janine kept saying to me, "How come the Liberals have so many ads, sometimes two in each ad break, and you have hardly any? They are beating you with their ads." Why didn't Tim tell me this?
In short, the Libs were winning the paid advertising campaign and we were winning the free media campaign. That must be why the journalists called the campaign for me – they didn't see the ads either ...
Gartrell is a nice, inoffensive guy, but he got lost in the big campaign. He was fighting the last campaign instead of this one, a fatal error in politics ...
This is the reality that hit me yesterday. All the work and effort, time away from my family, body collapsed into hospital, only to go backwards.
Yesterday afternoon, I got off the swing chair, told Janine to get ready for defeat and said, "Well, just goes to show, you can't do it all yourself, all your life. I've always tried to carry the whole show on my shoulders: my family, my community, my party. But now I'm stuffed. I have collapsed under the weight of those fucking ads."
What can I do now? Three more years in this rotten job, three more years staring across the chamber at a Tory Government ... It's tempting to pull the pin, for all the reasons we have talked about since June. My health has picked up, but our hatred of the media will never go away. We talked about it this morning and decided to stay on – a 70:30 call. Faulkner's optimism has made a big difference. He and Janine got on really well during the campaign.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15
I beat Howard the only time he was willing to debate me and won the free media campaign. Faulkner said, "This is the best campaign I've seen since the last time we won, possibly since 1990." But at the end of the day, they killed us with their ads. The day before the election, Danger said to me, "Well, mate, you couldn't have done any more. You put out the big options for people during the campaign."
As a vote-switcher, our schools funding policy was our best initiative of the campaign ... The mistake was the failure to follow up with TV ads.
Schools funding kept on coming back, especially after Big George Pell denounced the policy in the second last week. He was attacking something that gave more money to all his parish schools. One of the great own goals of the church. If the parishioners were fair dinkum they would rise up and punt Big George. But they just cop it from this authoritarian institution. Hey, if they encouraged people to experience Christ's teachings as individuals, free from the pulpit, all the kiddie-fiddlers would be out of a job.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 18
I went back and re-read Utting's report from July 31, which Gartrell rubberstamped as our campaign strategy. Actually, I went through it three times. The story gets worse.
It only mentioned interest rates once, and that was in the context of one of Howard's positives: "A good track record, with major strengths in economic management, especially interest rates, and national security." No mention at all of the dangers of a scare campaign ...
The bottom line is, [Gartrell's] not up to it. That's the crippling paradox of our show. We have become a machine party, constructed around factions and yes-men, yet our campaign machine is shallow.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27
I know one thing for sure: I don't deserve the torrent of shit I'm copping now ... Those who know the truth – Faulkner and Gartrell – aren't saying a word in my defence publicly. John, because he has gone to the back bench and hates talking to the media. The "governor-general" doesn't engage in menial tasks like setting the record straight and defending Labor's leader – he's too regal for that. Tim's been silent because if the truth were known, he would lose his job.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11
As an institution, the ALP is insoluble. That's where I'm at right now. Resigning myself to this slug of an organisation. A museum relic from a time when trade unions mattered and people cared about community politics. That time has passed and so, too, has the relevance of the shitcan I sit on as Labor Leader. Gloomsville.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2005
Freedom day. It's done. I felt calm and determined at my press conference. Organised it for Ingleburn mid-afternoon to make the animals scurry away from the front of our home. No elitism here, just a suburban park, finishing this thing the way I started it.
His book, The Latham Diaries is being released today, but a lot of extracts from it have already been released. These are just some that have appeared in The Australian.
I'm just adding in some brief notes here to identify some people mentioned for non-Australians.
Beazley - Kim Beazley, a back bench Labor MP at the time he is first mentioned in the quotes above, he served as a Minister in the Hawke and Keating Labor governments, and ultimately served as Keating's Deputy Prime Minister. He became Leader of the Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition after Labor lost office in 1996, and lead Labor to defeat at the 1998 and 2001 elections before resigning that position. He is now once again the Leader of the Labor Party, and Leader of the Opposition, largely on the basis that Labor doesn't have anyone else. His nickname (which Latham uses) is 'Bomber'.
Crean - Simon Crean. A former Minister in the Keating Labor government, he succeeded Kim Beazley as Leader of the Labor Party and the Opposition in 2001, before resigning to be placed in 2003, by Mark Latham. He is currently the Shadow Minister for Regional Development.
Rudd - Kevin Rudd, Labor Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Security, and Shadow Minister for Trade.
Oakes - Laurie Oakes, Nine Network political correspondent, also writes a weekly column for The Bulletin. One of Australia's most experienced political journalists. Latham refers to him as 'Jabba', a reference to a supposed resemblance to Jabba the Hutt.
Bracks - Steve Bracks. Labor Premier of Victoria.
Brereton - Laurie Brereton. Referred to as 'Danger' by Latham. Former NSW Labor state government politician, moved to Federal Parliament in 1990, and served as a Minister in the Keating government. Now retired from politics.
Faulkner - Senator John Faulkner. Former Minister in the Keating government, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1996-2004.
Pell - George Cardinal Pell, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. Prior to last election, Latham announced a hit list of elite private schools that he would reduce government funding for (in Australia, private schools receive significant government funding - nowhere near as much as government schools over all, but still significant) and give the money to poorer schools. Latham, with his socialist attitudes, expected this to be a popular policy. He was wrong - most Australians don't want to see money stolen from other people's children even if it means more money for their own kids. And the Catholic Church, in particular, which would have gained money for its schools in this scheme, rejected the scheme on the basis that they didn't want Catholics privileged over Protestants. I think Latham learned that for some people, principle is more important than money.
This is fascinating! Thanks!
Although the average layman doesn't know this,the biggest risk factor for pancreatitis,by far,is severe alcoholism.So It looks like the Australian people may well have had two good reasons for rejecting him.
One....he's a Marxist
Two....he's a drunk.
A younger Teddy Kennedy?
Only if he's breathtakingly wealthy (through inheritance, not work) and his father was kicked out of Britain by Churchill during WWII for essentially siding with Hitler.
Ping. Comments from Down Under are invited.
I do remember last year when it seems Latham could be the Prime Minister of Australia, many compared him with Paul Martin because of his relatively fiscal free-market orientation, and his triangulating posture with the United States (doing just enough so as not to appear openly anti-American as Jean Chretien, but of course not supportive of the US as does John Howard).
Does it seem to you he sounds like Paul Martin, now that we have access to his diaries?
Ping! Just interested to know (from your perspective) what you think of Mark Latham, thanks!
To be fair to Latham (because I am driven to be fair even to someone I detest) he's supposedly not a heavy drinker (it's not uncommon for politicians to drink heavily, and Labor politicians rarely hide it because it's seen as a sign that they remember their working class roots). He had testicular cancer years ago and had to have radiation therapy. That is the most likely cause of the damage to his pancreas
I do not see much similarity to Paul Martin.
To begin with Latham does seem to have an inner life
and some personality
however abhorrent.
I suspect Paul Martin's private thoughts consist of slogans
just as tedious as his public ones.
I can't imagine Paul Martin would waste his time
keeping a diary
much less have it published.
It is quite clear
however
that if Paul Martin were permitted by his electors
he would prefer much friendlier relations with the USA
if only for the furtherance of his business interests.
LAtham is a total nutter by the sounds of things. He's basically been totally ripping into everyone who is anyone in the Labour party, while Labour pretty much reply with the same. The real problem they have is Latham is so bad, why did they run him for PM last year. If Labour hadn't totally botched their campaign (basically it was "don't vote for John Howard, he may resign, vote for us". No policies in sight) Mark Latham may well have been the current Australian PM.
This is however a good thing. With Labour in this much chaos, and with the entire upper party discredited (even if Latham is lying they put a lunatic up for PM) the (right-win, equivalent of Republican) Liberal Party should easily romp in next election.
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