Rafy
Retired
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- Sep 30, 2004
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- 2005
- Uni Grad
- 2008
Well have to say i only noticed latham's absence from the comment on the Tsunami on January 5 when Labor actually told us where he was. Apparently sick again. But now there are newspaper reports saying he was at a resort. Now if he is well enough to go to a resort he is surely well enough to issue a statement on the matter.
And just imagine if the Australian people elected him? A prime minister in bed while all this is happening?
I personally think Latham's days are numbered. ANd you would be absoultely crazy to want the position of Labor Leader, as the party falls into greater irrelevance.
This is a very good article i found in the Sun- Herald
The deafening silence that could cost a learder dearly
Mark Latham’s disappearance during the crisis hasn’t impressed colleagues and has made his hold on Labor’s leadership even more shaky. Frank Walker writes.
Labor Mps are not impressed with Mark Latham’s disappearance during the tsunami crisis. As one Labor strategist said bitterly last week “Mate, if he’s well enough to see a doctor, he’s well enough to issue a bloody statement saying he’s sorry for the victims’ and their families”
His silence since the Boxing Day disaster has been an extraordinary lapse and one that could prove very costly for the Labor leader
It was only after journalists started asking midweek where Latham was and why he hadn’t said anything about the tsunami that the county learnt he was suffering from a second bout if of acute pancreatis.
The acting Labor leader, Chris Evans, a little- known West Australian senator, said he understood Latham had been struck down 10 days earlier, which meant he would have been hit with the tummy trouble about the same time as the tsunami hit Asia.
But Latham’s own staff are confused about exactly when he was struck down.
Last weekend his chief press secretary, Glenn Byers, rang a reporter after learning she was writing a story critical of Latham’s silence since the Tsunami.
Byers demanded to know who in the Labor party was speaking against their leader. The reporter naturally refused to say, but Byers made no mention of any illness.
On Friday another Latham press Secretary, Ann Clark, told me Latham was struck down with pancreatis “probably a week ago”.
That would have been December 31, five days after the Tsunami. But his spokesman back-pedalled when it was pointed out that according to her information, Latham must have been well on Boxing Day and for the following four days, as the death toll rose to 100,000.
“I am not exactly sure of the date [he fell ill]” Clark responded.
“HE was on leave at the time and Jenny Macklin was acting leader and she made the statement on behalf of the party on December 31.”
Clark said Latham has suddenly developed symptoms similar to those he’d had during his attack of pancreatis in August and he went straight to his doctor and so was able to avoid going to hospital, she said Latham was ordered to bed and told not to work.
“They are doing a series of testes to find the cause, but they have ruled out cancer.”
“He didn’t issue a statement about the tsunami personally because he was under strict doctor’s orders. He is not to do any work at all,” Clark said.
She said Latham would not return to work until the scheduled January 26.
Labor Mps are furious. “He doesn’t have to get out of bed to have his staff draft a message of sympathy and issue it,” said a senior Labor figure, who did not want to be named.
Labor MPs are even more angry that they too were kept in the dark about the reoccurrence of Latham’s pancreatis.
Labor’s foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd, who interrupted his holidays after the tsunami, was clearly unhappy with his leader’s absence when he told ABC radio on Wednesday that no, he hadn’t spoken to Latham, but the leader had confidence in his senior frontbenchers to say what was necessary.
Senator Chris Evans took over as acting leader from Macklin in January 1 and a few days later admitted most of Labor’s senior MPs only learnt of Latham’s illness from the media on Wednesday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer took the government’s one and only swing at the missing Latham and landed a cracker. As he was about to fly to Phuket on Monday, Downer said he had offered Latham a briefing on the extent of the disaster and government aid but he had not accepted it.
Evans said Rudd had been getting the briefings and passing them on to Latham. That must be difficult, as Rudd said on Wednesday he had not spoken to Latham.
Latham’s personal polling has fallen even further since his disastrous election result, one poll showed only 28 per cent of Australians wanted Latham as Labor leader. Satisfaction with Latham has fallen to his lowest ever as leader at 34 per cent, and 50 per cent of those polled, were dissatisfied.
If a poll was taken now, Latham would be lucky to get even those figures. Prime minister, John Howard is now leading the world on meeting the Tsunami crisis with a $1 billion aid offer, and has responded to the disaster superbly and with compassion
Unhappy Labor MPs such as Bob McMullan gave Latham until February to improve. Others signalled he had until the middle of the year. His illness is unlikely to save him from those critical of him.
The tsunami’s last victim might be a man who was never even there.
And just imagine if the Australian people elected him? A prime minister in bed while all this is happening?
I personally think Latham's days are numbered. ANd you would be absoultely crazy to want the position of Labor Leader, as the party falls into greater irrelevance.
This is a very good article i found in the Sun- Herald
The deafening silence that could cost a learder dearly
Mark Latham’s disappearance during the crisis hasn’t impressed colleagues and has made his hold on Labor’s leadership even more shaky. Frank Walker writes.
Labor Mps are not impressed with Mark Latham’s disappearance during the tsunami crisis. As one Labor strategist said bitterly last week “Mate, if he’s well enough to see a doctor, he’s well enough to issue a bloody statement saying he’s sorry for the victims’ and their families”
His silence since the Boxing Day disaster has been an extraordinary lapse and one that could prove very costly for the Labor leader
It was only after journalists started asking midweek where Latham was and why he hadn’t said anything about the tsunami that the county learnt he was suffering from a second bout if of acute pancreatis.
The acting Labor leader, Chris Evans, a little- known West Australian senator, said he understood Latham had been struck down 10 days earlier, which meant he would have been hit with the tummy trouble about the same time as the tsunami hit Asia.
But Latham’s own staff are confused about exactly when he was struck down.
Last weekend his chief press secretary, Glenn Byers, rang a reporter after learning she was writing a story critical of Latham’s silence since the Tsunami.
Byers demanded to know who in the Labor party was speaking against their leader. The reporter naturally refused to say, but Byers made no mention of any illness.
On Friday another Latham press Secretary, Ann Clark, told me Latham was struck down with pancreatis “probably a week ago”.
That would have been December 31, five days after the Tsunami. But his spokesman back-pedalled when it was pointed out that according to her information, Latham must have been well on Boxing Day and for the following four days, as the death toll rose to 100,000.
“I am not exactly sure of the date [he fell ill]” Clark responded.
“HE was on leave at the time and Jenny Macklin was acting leader and she made the statement on behalf of the party on December 31.”
Clark said Latham has suddenly developed symptoms similar to those he’d had during his attack of pancreatis in August and he went straight to his doctor and so was able to avoid going to hospital, she said Latham was ordered to bed and told not to work.
“They are doing a series of testes to find the cause, but they have ruled out cancer.”
“He didn’t issue a statement about the tsunami personally because he was under strict doctor’s orders. He is not to do any work at all,” Clark said.
She said Latham would not return to work until the scheduled January 26.
Labor Mps are furious. “He doesn’t have to get out of bed to have his staff draft a message of sympathy and issue it,” said a senior Labor figure, who did not want to be named.
Labor MPs are even more angry that they too were kept in the dark about the reoccurrence of Latham’s pancreatis.
Labor’s foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd, who interrupted his holidays after the tsunami, was clearly unhappy with his leader’s absence when he told ABC radio on Wednesday that no, he hadn’t spoken to Latham, but the leader had confidence in his senior frontbenchers to say what was necessary.
Senator Chris Evans took over as acting leader from Macklin in January 1 and a few days later admitted most of Labor’s senior MPs only learnt of Latham’s illness from the media on Wednesday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer took the government’s one and only swing at the missing Latham and landed a cracker. As he was about to fly to Phuket on Monday, Downer said he had offered Latham a briefing on the extent of the disaster and government aid but he had not accepted it.
Evans said Rudd had been getting the briefings and passing them on to Latham. That must be difficult, as Rudd said on Wednesday he had not spoken to Latham.
Latham’s personal polling has fallen even further since his disastrous election result, one poll showed only 28 per cent of Australians wanted Latham as Labor leader. Satisfaction with Latham has fallen to his lowest ever as leader at 34 per cent, and 50 per cent of those polled, were dissatisfied.
If a poll was taken now, Latham would be lucky to get even those figures. Prime minister, John Howard is now leading the world on meeting the Tsunami crisis with a $1 billion aid offer, and has responded to the disaster superbly and with compassion
Unhappy Labor MPs such as Bob McMullan gave Latham until February to improve. Others signalled he had until the middle of the year. His illness is unlikely to save him from those critical of him.
The tsunami’s last victim might be a man who was never even there.
