Mark Latham - Advocating for others

It was our pleasure to host the Honourable Mark Latham, State Leader for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party for the latest episode of Community Conversations with Pietro. In this episode, Mark speaks about his time away from politics and his re-entry back into the political arena, the turmoil of the Labor Party and the union movement, parental rights, religious freedom, vaccine passports and the top 3 priorities of the One Nation Party and much more. Community Conversations with Pietro is a podcast for those who have a heart for helping others and Mark Latham demonstrates his heart through his advocacy for everyday Australians and has done so for a long time across his personal and political life.

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Michael Smith Producer  0:00  
Hello and welcome to another episode of Community Conversations, the podcast for those who have a heart for helping others. In this episode, we speak to the Honourable Mark Latham, who is the State Leader for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party. Mark has a long history of being a fighter, and we're certainly glad as citizens of New South Wales, that Mark is advocating for our rights and freedoms. To unpack the conversation today, welcome to our Host, Pietro Di Girolamo. Over to you, Pietro.

Pietro Di Girolamo  0:30  
Hello, listeners, and welcome to our special guest today, Mark Latham. Mark just a bit of history for our listeners, if you will. Between 2005 when you left the Labor Party until 2019 when you came into politics, can you tell us a little bit about your time out of the limelight? What were the highlights of that time? And then what prompted you to re-enter politics in 2019?

Mark Latham MP  0:55  
Well, I left the Federal Parliament with pancreatitis, which wasn't all that flash an illness and I sort of reached the conclusion that stress, it crept up on me and the doctors said, well, you should get out of politics if you want to see your kids grow up. So I did. And my wife went into the law working at the DPP, and now she's a magistrate in Newcastle. And for those years in between those 14 years, I was a combination of a home dad, primary carer of my children, and doing a fair bit of work in the media, off and on. I got sacked a few times, bounced back a few times. You know, you speak your mind in the media, you haven't got employment security. But that was all right. Wrote some books, including The Latham Diaries, which you know, raised a lot of money, helped pay off our house and other things. So you know, that was a good period in terms of, well, basically raising my children and spending a lot of time with family. What was the best part of it? You can sort of have that cliche of quality time with your kids, but it was very rewarding for me to look after them. Their schoolwork their sport, their transport, cooking for them became the home chef ultimately, brought out a cookbook with Alan Jones, how many MP's have got a cookbook. 

Been really well you know, I look back on it as a golden part of my life. I've been lucky over all the things I've done in life coming out of public housing estate in Liverpool. And why did I get back into politics? Sometimes I say to people that I was standing out in the sun too long on a hot day. And went a bit crazy to go back in. But the serious answer is the kids were growing up. They'd been through the education system, which is very troubled. And I wanted to do something to make a contribution, particularly about the quality of education in New South Wales. And I've done a lot of work on that I'm chair of the Upper House Committee on Education and brought out some important reports. I monitor and try to expose some of the crazy things happening in the school system where a lot of it's about fads, experiments, PC woke ideology, instead of the basics of how do we get the kids a good education? One of the paradoxes is everything in the school system has been studied to death. We know exactly what works in the classroom, in terms of teaching and academic excellence, but we don't practice it. So I'm trying to get the system not only back to basics, but back to the evidence base, of what actually works. And that was all going well. But ultimately, you know, most recently swamped, by all the COVID issues, so I'm sure next year we'll get back on to the school education trail.

Pietro Di Girolamo  3:36  
We'll get to all those questions to mark. That's a really good introduction. Just out of interest. How is your health at the moment?

Mark Latham MP  3:41  
Yeah, good. Yeah. Yeah, that pancreatitis never came back. You know, de-stressing, you know, my kids must have been good for my health, because I'm still here. Now the eldest is coming up to 21 years of age, and I'm back into politics. And I think I think with a better attitude, and certainly not with as many worries in my political life now, and health is good. Yer general health has been excellent.

Pietro Di Girolamo  4:08  
Fantastic. Just moving on my community conversations, for those that haven't heard our podcast is actually a podcast for those who got a heart for helping others. Mark, back in your maiden speech in the New South Wales parliament, you shared your concerns about religious freedoms and parental rights. You mentioned how much you enjoy being a dad, what is it that moves your heart to speak out about these issues about these religious freedoms and these parental rights?

Mark Latham MP  4:34  
Well, we grew up in Australia, assuming that we've got freedoms, I'm not religious myself, but for those who have faith, there's been this weird period of persecution. I don't share the religious or necessarily the social views of Israel Folau but, I defend his right to say those things away from his workplace, which was Rugby Australia, and quoting from the Bible I've put out a tweet today don't worry about those two or three Melbourne storm players caught with cocaine or Rhys Walsh. The only bloke is banned from the NRL is Israel Folau for quoting from the Bible. So how you can be chucked out of your workplace and banned from a national sport for having those views of religious faith, the Bible, you know, not an insignificant book, most read book in the history of humankind. I think, for reasons I explained in that speech, it's a very strange and unwelcome thing in our society, that people of all faiths would have their beliefs questioned and they could lose their job and positions in society for articulating things that have been an important part of our civilization, the values of Christianity in particular, and the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Bible. On parental rights. It's hard to believe that a lot of parents feel like they've lost control of their children in the school system, they find out about things that are really disturbing, after they've happened in the school system. And I, I can't go into the details, but two of the most heart-wrenching moving conversations I've ever had with politics where with two moms, different stories, but the same problem. That the school decided to help their children make a gender transition, without telling them and one of the mums found out about it at the shopping centre from another mum. And, again, not going into the details, but these things absolutely rip families apart. I know gender transition for some kids is real, and it'll be long lasting for others, it's a bit of a fad. But whatever the circumstances, schools shouldn't be doing things behind the back of parents, and the family destruction that this causes is just off the radar. And these things are dreadful. And you know, the things I really really dislike in public life are the problems caused that are unnecessary. How hard is it to talk to parents to bring them into the loop? They have in both cases, they had medical experts who were working with the family that paid a lot of money. They love their children, they go into a lot of care, only to find out the school have done things behind their back, and very, very destructive to their family unit. So parental rights matter in many, many respects, knowing what's in the curriculum, knowing what's happening in the classroom, but most particular, knowing about the welfare, and things like the gender identity and sexuality of your children, no parents should be kept in the dark.

Pietro Di Girolamo  7:32  
Thank you. Thanks very much, Mark. Mark. You grew up in South Western Sydney, amongst blue-collar workers and everyday Aussies. How were the freedoms being taken away by the New South Wales Health Minister through the public health orders, and impacting on these Aussies and their ability to earn a living?

Mark Latham MP  7:49  
Well, I grew up in Liverpool, which is where one of these LGA is of concern where people had a curfew. People have lost their job told they can't go to work unless they get vaccinated. I don't know why that happens when we've got the rapid antigen testing. Today, it's just been announced that we'll have it in the home. Why haven't got it in the workplace when we all know that people who are vaccinated can carry the virus.  Vaccination, overall, is a good thing. High rates of vaccination mean that the rate of hospitalization is lower and the rate of death is lower. But some people for a whole range of reasons. I spend a lot of time on the phone with them, their family history; want more information; waiting for the Moderna or Novavax, couldn't get Pfizer;  haven't had a job for 40 years; anxious; depressed about it. I mean, there's a whole range of reasons there. We're not anti-vaccination, the anti-vaxxers hardcore,  are 1 or 2% of the population. Why is it that people with valid reasons for not being vaccinated are treated like lepers now in our society? So people in those areas where I grew up. I still get the stories of how they are losing their job. We're gonna lose 1000s of healthcare workers, teachers, police and paramedics in New South Wales because they don't want to undertake a certain medical procedure. That all seems unnecessary when you can do the rapid antigen testing. And beyond that the lockdowns you know are supposed to be a three-week lockdown, we're now in the 14th week of it. I think on Sunday, we rack up 100 days, destroying businesses, destroying jobs, and the isolation for young people, and this hasn't been high profile enough. But, young people are isolated from their school friends, their sporting mates, their social friends. This period of isolation has a lot of adolescents, in particular, wondering what is our society? You know, are we a community where we have bonds with each other or do we just spend all day in our homes, in our bedrooms? You know, talking as we are here on a computer screen, so you know, we all of us know what a society is. But for young people making their way that journey, it's been the weirdest, most isolated, and for many of the most depressing periods, I've ever experienced. It's a tale of whoa.

Pietro Di Girolamo  10:10  
I concur. I concur I got two teenage daughters and I concur with you Mark regarding the isolation and the mental health distress that they're, they're working. So I'm just gonna pick up on a couple of things you just said a moment ago. Historically, in industries like nursing and teaching, construction and manufacturing, the unions have helped the representatives bargain for better conditions and wages. And the union motto has generally always been united we stand,  divided we fall. With lockdowns and mandating vaccines, we have seen in Victoria particularly the CFMEU tradies have expressed their dissatisfaction with their Union and the government through these protests. So I've got three questions for you about this particular point. How did the unions come to a place where they have effectively sold out their members who pay membership for representation? Two what can union members do to protect themselves if their unions won't? Three is this the end of the union movement as we've known it?

Mark Latham MP  11:08  
Well, great, great questions, because you've got to wonder, whatever happened to not only the union movement, but the Labor movement, Labor MP's I mean, the whole purpose of the Labor movement, in trade unions and in politics was to establish some very important principles. One of them was that no employer owns the bodies and the health choices of their workers. You can go back to the time of serfdom, and feudalism and unionism really came out of that to say, no individual is owned by their employer. The employer doesn't run their health choices in life and doesn't run their life away from the workplace, and doesn't control health choices in the workplace. So that had been a golden principle of the union movement, not just for decades, but hundreds of years. But now in this COVID period, they jumped, and I get calls every day from long standing unionists saying, well hang on, for a bunch of reasons, the reasons I mentioned earlier on people are not having the vaccination. And they are saying I have paid my union fees for decades, why aren't the unions representing my interest? Why am I getting a sack, when I ring up the union, they say, there's nothing we can do for you. At a bare minimum, the ACTU instead of falling into line with the government, and the employer, should have said well run a test case, in the Fair Work Commission to establish the legal principles around this, that would have been a step. We've seen with the CFMEU  protests where they turned on their own leaders, they're more militant and took action on the streets to say, you guys only have one job that's to represent us and our needs, and most particularly stop us getting the sack. Where's the Teachers Federation in New South Wales? Where just yesterday it was announced 500 foreign teachers are coming into New South Wales. That'll be to make up for the staff shortages where they going to sack up to 7000 New South Wales Government teachers who said they've no plan for a vaccination. So is this the end of the Union movement? it shouldn't be because they have been completely and utterly useless? What can workers do? You still have some rights in employment law and in work health and safety and privacy, in some aspects of very tiny aspects of discrimination law. I put up a catalogue of the existing rights of workers that haven't been wiped as yet. It's on my Facebook page 'Mark Latham's Outsiders'. That's the work that the union representative should have been doing to let workers know you have some existing rights. And in the case of the unions, we're going into fight for your job. And I mentioned earlier on rapid antigen testing, why have we got forced workplace vaccinations when you can have rapid antigen testing conducted by yourself in your home? Why aren't the unions saying that is the pathway to have a COVID safe workplace. You do your COVID test in the morning, your COVID free you do your day's work, and people keep their jobs. How hard would it have been for Chris Minns and Anthony Albanese, Labor MPs, and all those trade union leaders who are on a pretty good wicket financially to step up and say the logical alternative to forced workplace vaccination and sackings is the rapid antigen testing and here we are, it's coming in.

Pietro Di Girolamo  14:19  
As you see it, given your position or your previous position in the Labor Party Mark. They have really been quiet I concur have been well being quiet on the on what how this right into workers? Do you think they have lost the trust of workers and is now the age of minor parties and independents to rise up?

Mark Latham MP  14:34  
If you're a worker who's losing your job in this dreadful circumstance, I can assure you One Nation in New South Wales has been standing up for your rights. I don't see anyone else who has been so minor parties. We get support for that I get support for the right reason. I mean, part of representative politics is to fight for people's rights, their jobs, their industries, their their their livelihood, their their family, welfare. The education of their children. That's what I tried to do each and every day I I am absolutely dumbfounded as a former federal labor leader, I can't believe to hear Chris Minns say i'm in favor of sacking these people. I can't believe that Anthony Albanese doesn't lift a finger to try and help them I'm, I'm as stunned as the workers who are suffering this either at a political level, I can't believe this is what today's Labor Party has become.

Pietro Di Girolamo  15:25  
Changing directions just for a moment, Mark, back to your maiden speech, you stated the rights of parents and grandparents are being removed. And I understand that you are now moving a bill regarding parental rights. Can you tell us a bit about this bill that you're hoping to get through Parliament? And what can you say to the parents and grandparents to stand up and to protect their children?

Mark Latham MP  15:45  
We'll take an interest in what's happening at the school when your kids come home, when we get back to normal school and the kids come home have an afternoon I asked what happened at the school today? What happened in the classroom? What did you hear about, you know, have a strong line of communication to your children to get that feedback about what's going on, if there's something that disturbs you, that happened that day at school will make your voice known. But you know, it's hard because a lot of teachers foolishly think that they're the parents. And you know, we've heard things of my education committee where teachers will say, well, the parents know nothing about education. And the parents are part of the problem. So it's an appalling attitude where the school institution, not all teachers, but some have become very arrogant in thinking that they've got a bigger responsibility for the well being of the children, then the parents themselves, well, parents don't have six weeks holiday at the end of the year. Parents are there on the weekends, late at night, when things go wrong. Parents are there 24 seven, I think all up in the time that kids spend at school, it's about 13% of the year, while the parents are there all the time. So my bill establishes some important principles, one that parents are without doubt the primary educators of their children two that parents have got a right to know what's coming up in the curriculum in the classroom, at the start of every year, no surprises, no weird subjects and things that are pushed upon the kids. And very importantly, parents have got a right to take their children out of classes that day in accord with the moral ethical values of their family. So you know, it puts parents back in the driver's seat and says to the schools you are very important and we want great schools, and we want great teachers. But parents are primarily in charge of their children. And the role of the school is to serve those parents and those children not to serve the political views of the teachers.

Pietro Di Girolamo  17:41  
Basically Mark what what's happening to this country, we've got this we've got cultural war, Cultural Marxism, the erosion of free speech, freedom of religion and beliefs, you're publicly shared that you're not a Christian. In fact, you've also shared that you don't believe in hell, yet you're appalled by the treatment of Israel Folau. Why did you feel so strongly about the situation with Israel? And why do we need to protect the freedom of religious expression?

Mark Latham MP  18:06  
Well, you know, I was on Israel's list of sinners probably a couple of times. Most of us would have been, yeah, we're going to hell, but if you don't, if you don't, you're gonna believe in hell, what are you worried about? And I'll go on there for the things I'm not going to go into the detail, but the things that I might have done on that list, so why, why why why throw a bloke out of the Australian footy team for something, you know, I think is actually going to happen to you. So a lot of the complaints from the gay community in that regard were confected outrage, they, they were wanting to punish him, without a belief that what he was saying about them will ever happen. So that's a weird situation. But look, my view is, and I say this to my children that, you know, you might wake up in the morning and think that, you know, the Bible might not pop into your head and the 10 commandments might not pop in your head and the teachings of Jesus Christ, you might be thinking about it over breakfast, BUT in one of the ingrained parts of our society, Christianity is one of the key pillars of our civilization. But how do we distinguish between right and wrong? Essentially, from the parts of the 10 commandments and the teachings of Jesus, we don't sort of actively have an awareness of that each and every day, but it's ingrained into civil society. It's ingrained in our social habits. So Christianity, not not perfect, certainly, and the way it's been practiced, and some of the things that have happened in churches, but overall a magnificent force for good in our society and our civilization, one of the pillars of our civilization. And even if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ and God, you should recognize the importance of Christianity to the way we live our lives overwhelmingly a force for good, and it's worth defending.

Pietro Di Girolamo  19:54  
Many of us, myself included, are out of work soon, due to these mandatory directives. What would you advise people who would like to keep their job but declined the offer of a vaccination? And where do you think we're at regarding vaccine passports?

Mark Latham MP  20:09  
Well, thankfully, the announcement yesterday in New South Wales is a belated recognition, that vaccine passports are a bit of a lemon. I mean, have a look at the UK where they've got rid of the vaccine passports, they have 90 or 98% of their adult population in the UK, with COVID antibodies. These are people vaccinated or they've got an act natural acquisition of the antibodies because they've had the infection 98% but it's still getting 30,000 new COVID cases a day 30,000. But people because they're highly vaccinated, look at the antibodies. It's not causing big hospitalization rates. Only 7% of the British hospital beds are taken up by COVID patients. So they're living with Covid big numbers, but it's like the flu. If you're vaccinated to get the antibodies, it tends to be like the flu. For those who don't want to go down the path of vaccination in our country, vaccine passports, silly. Craig Laundry the ex liberal politician he has a lot of pubs. He says he doesn't want any vaccinated customers in his pub. What? Sorry, unvaccinated customers in his pub. But the vaccinated people can carry the virus and spread it. So what's he going to do in his pubs, when there's some vaccinated people there have got COVID, as there are many hundreds of 1000s like that in the United Kingdom, what's he going to do? Well, you're gonna have to close down his pub, and deep clean and maybe staff go out on two weeks of isolation. So it's foolish to think you can have a COVID free pub, or cafe, or restaurant or shop or retail premises or gym, or cinema. I mean, you know, this is a delusion. There's this sort of false perception that's growing up in the media, that somehow vaccination means you can never get COVID it's just not true. And vaccine passports then are of no use, it's much more effective for Laundy to do rapid antigen testing of the customers and the staff every day. So he knows he's got a COVID free environment. So in New South Wales, the vaccine passports won't even last seven weeks, they're going to be there, they'll end on the first of December. Thankfully, I think Dominic Perrottet played a big role in getting that decision. What can people do on the other side of the coin with the forced workplace, vaccinations, some rights available to you, I mentioned them on my Facebook page. That's a terrible circumstance, plead with your employer to do the rapid energy testing as an alternative. For sacking, and for a lot of employers, this is an act of folly in the private sector that we people to reopen on the 11th of October, who will lose some of the best workers, staff who might have been with them for decades. And again, they are going to sack them, please find an alternative and rapid energy and testing is the logical way to go.

Pietro Di Girolamo  23:00  
Yeah, I think you're right, there Mark the rapid energy testing is the way to go and it's good as someone's come up with some common sense. Our final question for our podcast is this as well, I'm going to tell you who's gonna win the footy it's going to be Penrith by two. What could be one of those? It could be a two-point field goal from the middle of the field. Why?

Mark Latham MP  23:19  
Why don't we get smashed by the storm? So

Pietro Di Girolamo  23:24  
There's a couple of Christian guys here. Maybe they got some divine intervention? I don't know. Mark, as the leader of the One Nation Party in New South Wales, what are the three challenges facing the people of this state? And what is One Nation's position on that?

Mark Latham MP  23:39  
Well, the first The most obvious one is to live with COVID to try and get back to normality to treat COVID. With these high rates of vaccination is like the flu to be more like the UK where they're open. They're watching the cricket, they're going to sporting events, they've got their jobs, they're going out at night without masks, without vaccine passports. You see that in Sweden, Denmark and Norway have just junked vaccine passports and they're opening up we've got to be like that and and two things the media COVID fear campaign which has terrorized a lot of people into thinking, you know, this is like typhoid. It's not it's becoming like the flu. And the second thing is not demonize any people, not demonize people without vaccination as kind of the new lepers in our society. We're gonna bring people together have one tier society, not a two tier society, people working together, like as someone who's vaccinated, I've got nothing to fear from the unvaccinated or what why why would I fear someone sitting on the train next to someone and vaccinated against COVID any more than I fear someone and I'm vaccinated against the flu. You know, I've done what I think is my protection that I didn't I wasn't going to get the AstraZeneca I could tell you but I spoke to my GP we had an alternative. I'm I'm I feel protected. Why would I be scared or demonize unvaccinated people who and I know many of them have done this for very valid reasons. So that's a big thing on COVID. Our second priority, obviously, is economic recovery. We've got to be pro development, pro jobs, pro industry in New South Wales, a whole bunch of things that need to be done. Energy Policy, Development applications for fast tracking, good employment ideas, we've got to get back to a thriving economy. And our third priority is in the education area where we've discussed many of the problems I'm in the for the next generation, getting back to top of the ladder with school results instead of near the bottom for New South Wales is an absolute priority.

Pietro Di Girolamo  25:45  
Mark, thanks so much for your time. That's a wrap from us. But before actually, before we do the wrap, just one question that we got, I just want to say something we a lot of support is up here in Newcastle just for your information. A lot of people want me to pass on their regards and say how much we are. They're praying for your Mark. And they're believing in you and they're hoping to perhaps find a way to join. When you guys come up here for the next in the state or federal election. We want to support you guys and all 

Mark Latham MP  26:10  
As I say my wife works in Newcastle and you know, we've got a place there and spend time there but in the COVID lockdown, we thought it was better for the kids for me to be here in Sydney. So it hasn't been easy. But the beautiful city Newcastle, what's a potential as long as you've got some politicians there who want to realize their potential instead of closing down the coal industry and creating mass unemployment.

Pietro Di Girolamo  26:35  
That's a wrap folks. Thanks for joining us for this episode of community conversations, the podcast for those that have a heart for helping others we would like to thank our very special guest, the Honorable Mark Latham, state leader of the One Nation Party in New South Wales. Also, I'd like to thank our executive producer Michael Smith, and I'm your host, Pietro Di Girolamo. Thank you for listening and until next time, be kind to each other.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai