Mark Latham

The Honourable
Mark Latham
MLC
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 March 2023
In office
23 March 2019 – 2 March 2023
Succeeded byTania Mihailuk
Leader of One Nation – New South Wales
In office
7 November 2018 – 14 August 2023
Preceded byBrian Burston
Succeeded byTania Mihailuk
Leader of the Opposition
In office
2 December 2003 – 18 January 2005
Prime MinisterJohn Howard
DeputyJenny Macklin
Preceded bySimon Crean
Succeeded byKim Beazley
Leader of the Australian Labor Party
In office
2 December 2003 – 18 January 2005
DeputyJenny Macklin
Preceded bySimon Crean
Succeeded byKim Beazley
Manager of Opposition Business
In office
16 June 2003 – 8 December 2003
LeaderSimon Crean
Preceded byWayne Swan
Succeeded byJulia Gillard
Member of Parliament
for Werriwa
In office
29 January 1994 – 21 January 2005
Preceded byJohn Kerin
Succeeded byChris Hayes
Mayor of Liverpool
In office
1991–1994
Preceded byColin Harrington
Succeeded byGeorge Paciullo
Councillor of the City of Liverpool
for South Ward
In office
1991–1994
Personal details
Born
Mark William Latham

(1961-02-28) 28 February 1961 (age 63)
Ashcroft, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyIndependent (since 2023)[1]
Other political
affiliations		One Nation (2018–2023)[2]
Liberal Democrats (2017–2018)[3][4]
Labor (until 2017)
Spouses
Gabrielle Gwyther
​
​
(m. 1991; div. 1999)​
Janine Lacey
​
​
(m. 2000; div. 2022)​
Children3
Residence(s)Mount Hunter, New South Wales[5]
EducationHurlstone Agricultural High School
Alma materUniversity of Sydney (BEc)

Mark William Latham (/ˈleɪθəm/; born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from December 2003 to January 2005, leading the party to defeat at the 2004 federal election. He left the ALP in 2017 and joined Pauline Hanson's One Nation in 2018, gaining a seat for that party in the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 2019 New South Wales state election and winning re-election in 2023.

Latham was born in Sydney and studied economics at the University of Sydney. He joined the Labor Party at a young age and worked as a research assistant to Gough Whitlam and Bob Carr. He was elected to the Liverpool City Council in 1987 and became mayor in 1991. Latham entered the House of Representatives by winning the seat of Werriwa at the 1994 Werriwa by-election. He was included in Labor's shadow cabinet after the 1996 federal election, but left the frontbench in 1998 following a dispute with the party leader, Kim Beazley. He returned to the shadow cabinet in 2001, when Simon Crean became leader.

Latham became leader of the Labor Party in December 2003, narrowly defeating Beazley in a leadership vote after Crean's resignation. He was the youngest leader of the party since Chris Watson in 1901. At the 2004 federal election, the ALP lost five seats and reduced its share of the two-party-preferred vote; the incumbent Howard government was re-elected to a fourth term. Latham became disillusioned with politics and retired in January 2005. After leaving politics, he published a memoir, The Latham Diaries, in which he attacked his former colleagues and condemned the state of political life in Australia.

After leaving parliament, Latham started a career as a prominent political and social commentator, and became highly critical of the Labor Party and left-wing politics. He would soon gain a reputation for making inflammatory and controversial comments.[6] In December 2016, he began co-hosting Outsiders on Sky News Live,[7] but he was fired from the network in March 2017 after he made insulting comments about a fellow presenter and the teenage daughter of a governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.[8] Latham returned to politics and joined the Liberal Democratic Party in May 2017, which led to him receiving a lifetime ban from the Labor Party. In November 2018, Latham left the party and announced that he had joined One Nation as its state leader in New South Wales. He successfully stood for the party in the upper house at the 2019 state election. He resigned in the middle of his eight-year term on 2 March 2023 in order to run for a new eight-year term at the state election later that month.

In August 2023, it was announced that Pauline Hanson had removed Latham from the position of party leader for One Nation (New South Wales).[9] On 22 August 2023, Latham resigned from One Nation to sit as an independent.[10]

  1. ^ Maddison, Max (22 August 2023). "Latham quits One Nation, alleges it misspent taxpayers funds". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  2. ^ Markson, Sharri (6 November 2018). "Former Labor leader Mark Latham joins Pauline Hanson's One Nation party in NSW".
  3. ^ Ross, Monique (8 May 2017). "Mark Latham joins Liberal Democrats Party, hails them as 'party of freedom'". ABC News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Mark Latham quits Liberal Democrats". 3 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Candidates - Legislative Council Group Q: ONE NATION". Elections NSW. New South Wales Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  6. ^ Kelly, Sean (1 August 2019). "Mark Latham: The outsider". The Monthly. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  7. ^ Knox, David (21 November 2016). "Airdate: Outsiders". TV Tonight. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  8. ^ Meade, Amanda (29 March 2017). "Mark Latham sacked by Sky News Australia after controversial remarks". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  9. ^ Roe, Isobel (14 August 2023). "Mark Latham dumped from One Nation's NSW leadership by Pauline Hanson". ABC News. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  10. ^ Maddison, Max (22 August 2023). "Latham quits One Nation, alleges it misspent taxpayer funds". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 August 2023.