''The Latham Diaries'' () is a political memoir by the former Federal Parliamentary

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) leader, Mark Latham. The book, published in 2005 by

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

, attracted a great amount of criticism. Much of the controversy revolved around Latham's candid and scathing criticisms of the ALP, as well as highly personal and occasionally ribald comments regarding some individuals.

Synopsis

The book is an abridgement of Latham's personal diary, from his election to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

in 1994 until his retirement in 2005. He has claimed that the book is not intended to discredit the ALP but rather to correct the record for the benefit of his sons. He alleged that the media has not accurately portrayed him during his time in Parliament. Latham frequently refers to his belief that in the 10 years between the ALP losing office in 1996 and publication of the ''Diaries'', Labor failed to respond to major changes in Australian society, wrought by

globalisation Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

and the policies of the Keating and the

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

governments. Latham claims that under the leadership of both

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet ...

and Simon Crean, the party has failed to develop new and innovative policies and has either looked backwards and inwards for ideas or taken a purely-negative position with government initiatives. Latham reiterates his belief, expounded in earlier books such as '' Civilising Global Capital'' (1998) that the ALP should reject many of its traditional policies, such as

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

and the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

, but instead focus on the expansion of

social capital Social capital is "the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively". It involves the effective functioning of social groups through interpersonal relationships ...

. Those views and Latham's frustrations with the development of party policy over time, are shown in his entry for August 12, 1999: :The horse bolted in the first half of the

0th 0th or zeroth may refer to: Mathematics, science and technology * 0th or zeroth, an ordinal for the number zero * 0th dimension, a topological space * 0th element, of a data structure in computer science * Zeroth (software), deep learning softwar ...

century when Labor abandoned its mutualist traditions—

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

in the relationship between people—and embraced the

—socialism in the relationship between government and its citizens. We can talk about the Third Way, a fourth way, a fifth way. In practice, it will take a miracle for the control freaks and power junkies of the Labor movement to reform their ways. I'm pissing in the wind. (p.110) In the book and in interviews following its release, Latham also singled out Beazley for harsh criticism on the grounds of character. He alleged that as both party leader and an ordinary MP, Beazley failed to offer Latham and other Labor MPs the support and loyalty that they were due. In a now-famous comment, he described Beazley as "a dirty dog" who is "not fit to clean toilets at

Parliament house Parliament House may refer to: Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * Parliament House, Darwin, Parliame ...

Reception

The book sold rapidly, and the publisher had to order a second print run before the first had gone on sale. The book has been described as showing insight into the Parliamentary Labor Party after Keating.

References

External links

Melbourne University Press entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latham Diaries, The 2005 non-fiction books Political autobiographies Books about politics of Australia Melbourne University Publishing books