Controversial former Labor leader Mark Latham has joined the Liberal Democrats, sparking speculation a return to politics might be on the cards.

Mr Latham, who led Labor from 2003 until 2005, says he wants to play a role in fighting for national values, based on personal freedom and responsibility.

"I support 80-90 per cent of the Liberal Democrats platform, pretty good for someone with strong views formed over a long period of time," Mr Latham said on Facebook.

Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm said a potential return to politics was "like getting married a second time - it's a triumph of hope over experience".

"(Mark Latham) said, he had already done that - gotten married a second time - and he's much better at it," Senator Leyonhjelm told AAP.

"I think there's a thought in the back of his mind, that he might like to get back into politics but he hasn't raised that with the party."

Senator Leyonhjelm acknowledged Mr Latham came with some baggage.

"He's quite a gentleman, as a matter of fact, he and I get on very well," he said.

"We've got a fair bit in common, but I've never broken a taxi driver's arm that's for sure. I don't get into blues if I can avoid it."

Mr Latham was sacked as a commentator on Sky News Australia in March.

read more:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/05/08/ex-labor-leader-latham-joi...

The logo used by David Leyonhjelm’s Liberal Democratic party at the 2016 election failed to meet the Australian Electoral Commission’s guidelines and should not have been approved, a review of the decision has found.

The logo, used during the 2016 election campaign, shows the word “Liberal” in large, bolded capital letters, with the word “Democrat” in smaller, unbolded letters.

Complaints were made about the logo to the commission in May 2016, but the Australian Electoral Commission found there was insufficient evidence to determine the logo should be refused.

But in June two eminent tobacco control experts and professors of public health, Mike Daube from Curtin University and Simon Chapman from the University of Sydney, called on the commission to review its decision. The professors are interested in Leyonhjelm in part because of his acceptance of $55,000 in donations from big tobacco company Philip Morris.

In their complaint Daube and Chapman asserted that the new logo was deliberately designed to mislead voters and to suggest a relationship or connection to the Liberal party.

But the commission said their decision that the logo was acceptable stood, in part because “the reasons why a party chooses a certain logo design, or why a party chooses to change that design, are not relevant for the purposes of assessing a proposed logo under part XI of the Electoral Act”.

However, on Thursday the commission sent a document to Daube and Chapman, which has been seen by Guardian Australia, which said a further review of the decision had led them to refuse to enter the Liberal Democratic party logo into the register.

“In the opinion of the Electoral Commission the font and prominence of the word ‘Liberal’ so nearly resembles the Liberal party of Australia’s logo as it appears on the ballot paper, such that a reasonable person is likely to confuse or mistake the Liberal Democratic party logo for the logo of the Liberal party of Australia”.

In its statement of reasons the commission said it had “decided to set aside the decision under review”.

A media officer with the commission told Guardian Australia it meant that the previous decision to include the logo in the register had been revoked and that the logo would be removed from the register. However it is unclear what the implications of this are given the election was held in August and the logo has already been used.

“If this logo has worked to cause a significant number of people to vote for him this is of immense interest and it certainly should be of interest to the Australian parliament,” Chapman said.

“However, it is a shame that it took the commission about eight months to come up with this finding.”

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/11/liberal-democrati...

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has joined Pauline Hanson's campaign in the Longman by-election, urging voters to retaliate against his former party.

• In a pre-recorded call, Mark Latham says the only reason for the Longman by-election is because Bill Shorten "lied"
• He does not ask voters to endorse One Nation, but the call is sponsored by Pauline Hanson
• Mr Latham joined the Liberal Democrats last year, prompting the Labor Party to declare it would never let the former leader rejoin

In a pre-recorded "robocall" message being issued in the marginal Queensland electorate, Mr Latham criticised Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for his "dishonesty".

"He just lies and lies and lies," Mr Latham said.

"The reason we're having a Longman by-election is because Shorten lied about the citizenship of his Labor MPs."

Four of the five by-elections being held on July 28 were called because Labor MPs and the Centre Alliance's Rebekha Sharkie were dual citizens and not eligible to have been elected.

Labor figures privately say they are nervous about the party's prospects in Longman, which is north of Brisbane.

It holds the seat with a narrow margin of 0.8 per cent.

Today's robocall is personally authorised by Senator Hanson herself, but Mr Latham does not specifically endorse One Nation, instead urging voters to support minor parties.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-09/mark-latham-joins-one-nation-longm...

Mark Latham is a bad boy. He is the most hypocritical rubbish heap still pushing crap from his arse. he has no allegiances and never understood much about social issues. He should be exposed as a fake and a charlatan.

Read from top.

One Nation's Mark Latham has foreshadowed a private members' bill in the New South Wales Parliament to give the Planning Minister special powers to overturn the rejection of the Dendrobium mine extension.

• Mark Latham is proposing to give the Planning Minister additional powers
• The NSW One Nation Leader has highlighted an apparent disagreement between the Premier and John Barilaro over the IPC's Dendrobium mine decision
• The mine extension was deemed by the IPC as posing a risk to drinking water supplies

South32 had sought to extract an additional 78 million tonnes of coal from two sites near the Avon and Cordeaux dams, west of Wollongong.

The company said the project was worth $2.8 billion to the NSW economy and Australia's biggest steelmaker said the project was "critical" to the future of its Port Kembla steelworks.

But the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) rejected the plan a fortnight ago, concluding the level of risk had not been properly quantified and that the project carried the risk of long-term, irreversible impacts on drinking water for the Sydney, Illawarra, Wollondilly and Macarthur regions.

Mr Latham said he met with BlueScope management during a recent visit to the Illawarra and was deeply concerned by the IPC decision.

"BlueScope produces 60 per cent of all the steel production in Australia," he said.

"So this is a huge national issue to have the resource certainty for that company."

Mr Latham said the company told him there were 3,000 direct manufacturing positions and 20,000 indirect jobs at stake in the Illawarra.

On the day of the ruling, Deputy Premier John Barilaro criticised the decision and said he would like to see it overturned.

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian and several senior ministers backed the IPC's call.

Mr Latham said his bill would provide another way forward.

"If there is a split – as there appears to be – in the Berejiklian-Barilaro cabinet, I think a private members' bill in the Upper House will add to the pressure to do the right thing," he said.

"My bill provides an approval, a development consent for the mine with conditions to be attached by the Planning Minister in the normal practice to have appropriate environmental safeguards.

"So hopefully we can get the balance right, so that we don't lose the jobs in the Illawarra and the conditions of consent developed by the government can make sure there's environmental protection."

Mr Latham said he would give the government a couple of weeks to make a decision to formulate its response to the IPC decision.

"If it's clear they are not acting and Barilaro has been rolled by the green Liberal type ministers, I'll give it a second reading and we'll try and have a debate and vote to get this through," he said.

Local Labor MPs say they have not been shown a draft of the bill and are not in a position to comment.

Mr Barilaro has been contacted for comment.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-17/one-nations-mark-latham-fights-ipc-dendrobium-mine-rejection/13163864

I forgot. Latham is now working for Pauline... But looking at it David (at top) and Pauline drink their water from the same coal-mine... Note that the environmental protections that Latham is talking about are on par with an old blown up recycled with a bicycle-tyre patch condom... As good as not new. Things are going to leak...