Former Labor leader turned Liberal Democrat Party member turned One Nation robocall voiceover guy Mark Latham got into a verbal brawl with former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson on Sky News, and honestly it's a mess.
.@RealMarkLatham vs @SkyNewsRicho #PMLive @pm_live #Auspol
On Monday, it was revealed that Latham, who led Labor to an election defeat in 2004 against incumbent prime minister John Howard, had recorded robocalls for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party for the by-election in the Queensland seat of Longman.
In the ad, Latham said opposition leader Bill Shorten "lies".
"I’ve had personal experience with Bill Shorten’s dishonesty," he said in the call. "He just lies and lies and lies."
LABOR LIES | @OneNationAus & @PaulineHansonOz have teamed up with former ALP leader @RealMarkLatham to send a message to #Longman voters asking them to punish Bill Shorten & Labor for their lies by supporting independents & smaller parties like One Nation. https://t.co/p8oOuzJwz4
He claimed the by-election was called because Shorten had lied about the citizenship of Labor MPs including Longman candidate Susan Lamb. (Shorten has said that Labor was relying on legal advice the High Court proved unviable when the last section 44 decision was handed down.)
There is not a lot of love in Labor for its former leader, and Latham argues that the party has changed since he led it and was subsequently kicked out.
@AnthonyChisholm Thinking back to ALP leadership team from that 2004 election & how they've conducted themselves over the last week - chalk & cheese. Jenny Mac the chalk - carrying herself with dignity & honour, with an incredible legacy. Meanwhile, the cheese has transmogrified into a giant rat.
Latham now often comments in agreement with the policies of One Nation and Australian Conservatives. Anyway. That leads to Monday night.
During what some people refer to as "Sky News After Dark" (basically when Sky News turns into Australia's version of Fox News after 7pm), Latham was on Paul Murray Live with Hanson and Richo to explain why he had agreed to do the robocalls.
Richo first complimented Latham by saying he has a "very high IQ". It then descended into an argument over whether Shorten's back-down on company tax cuts was somehow any different to the not-a-flip-flop by Hanson.
Richo said that Latham doesn't believe anything that comes out of the Labor Party anymore.
"The party that built you, the party that made you. Those people in Green Valley who contributed .... when you were going to university... They're either rolling in their graves or they're shaking their heads if they're still alive," he said.
"You were once on the path to greatness; I don't know what happened."
.@SkyNewsRicho on former Labor leader @RealMarkLatham: it's really sad. You were once on the path of greatness. I don't know what happened. MORE: https://t.co/EdgLuViRCU #pmlive #auspol https://t.co/qww3j7uCpk
Then Latham switched to bringing up Labor taking money from property developer Ron Medich, now convicted of ordering a contract killing. (Labor is paying back the money now.)
"I'll tell you what is sad, taking money from Ron Medich as you did as a lobbyist," he said.
Richo then said that he stopped taking money from Medich. Latham then called Richo an "old, rotten shyster".
"Don't you ever lecture me on personal behaviour," Richo said. "You're not just a rat for the Labor Party, you're king rat."
Meanwhile, Hanson was just sitting awkwardly waiting for her turn to speak.
Longman is likely to be the tightest by-election of the five to be held on Super Saturday on July 28.
Labor only managed to get over the line at the 2016 election via preferences from One Nation, and with Hanson now advising against preferencing Labor, the seat could end up back with the government.
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