Mark Latham is considering a return to politics saying that the public is ‘urging’ him to and Pauline Hanson is keen for him to join One Nation.
Former Opposition leader Mark Latham is currently weighing up a return to politics but is unsure which party he wants to represent.
Latham was exiled from the Labor party after quitting following the party’s unsuccessful election campaign against John Howard in 2004.
He was joined on Sky News by Pauline Hanson on Monday night and discussed a potential return to politics but was unsure which party would be the best fit, despite Hanson’s best efforts.
“I’ve not made a decision…I get people urging me” said Latham, citing that people believe that Australia has gone crazy and regularly question what has happened to the nation asking him to “get in and do something”.
Pauline Hanson was eager to put in her persuasive words saying “that I’d be quite happy to have him on board”.
Latham voiced a pre-recorded message for the One Nation party in preparation for the by-election in Longman, Queensland. In the message, Mr. Latham warns against trusting the Labor party, something that Senator for the Liberal Democrats David Leyonhjelm said came as a surprise.
Mr. Leyonhjelm also said that he had been in contact with Mr. Latham over a return to politics but noted that it is not just Mr. Latham’s choice as he also has a wife and children to worry about.
In light of Mr. Latham’s potential return to politics, Labor has spoken out and made clear that they are unwilling to take their former leader back. Current Labor leader Bill Shorten said that the voice over for One Nation was simply a sideshow and that Mr. Latham would go down as “one of the greater Labor rats of history.
One potential option that Mark Latham proposed was combining a few minor parties together and joining them in an attempt to strengthen democracy. He stated that these minor parties are currently “not doing the job.”
Mr. Latham cited that he believed that the minor parties do receive substantial support and that “people are crying out to make Australian politics more competitive.”
Many of Australia’s current politicians have come out and said that this idea from Latham would be a challenging one as many of the minority parties in Australia support significantly different views.