I didn't lose my cool, says Latham (Aussie)

Opposition Leader Mark Latham - who is just one point behind John Howard as preferred prime minister in the latest poll - today insisted he did not lose his cool when he shouted in parliament that Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer was a "lousy rotten disgrace".

Mr Downer hit back saying Mr Latham had been exposed as "a man with an explosive temperament just beneath the surface" and therefore "somebody who does not have the temperament to be the prime minister".

But Mr Latham described yesterday's outburst as "trying to stand up for a good man" - Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty.

At the time, Mr Latham was attempting to censure Prime Minister John Howard over the apparent muzzling of the AFP chief.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/23/1079939619412.html

BACKSTORY:
This is a fairly big political story now in Australia - On a political talk show on the Sunday after the Madrid bombings the Commissioner of the Australian Federal police said in an interview:

"The reality is, if this turns out to be Islamic extremists responsible for this bombing in Spain, it’s more likely to be linked to the position that Spain and other allies took on issues such as Iraq."

The Commissioner was phoned immediately after the live interview and harassed by Howards chief of staff, acting under instruction from little Johnnie. Within a few days the Commissioner released a humiliating government vetted "statement of clarification".

There has been a groundswell of disgust with the behaviour of the PM on this issue. Here is some more of what Latham had to say in Parliament:

The truth is that Mick Keelty has earned the right to speak publicly on these matters. He more than any other Australian has earned the right to speak honestly about these matters. He is a fine police officer respected right around the country. He played a magnificent role in the Bali investigation—a magnificent role in every respect. He is indeed one of our national champions, and he did not deserve to be treated this way by a government that did not like the truth, that did not like honesty, that wanted to put its own narrow political interests ahead of Australia’s national interested, and that wanted to play politics with Australia’s national security.

It is a level of honesty that has offended the Prime Minister, but, quite frankly, it is no great surprise in this place, because this is a Prime Minister who finds it hard to handle the truth. We know that from the kids overboard; we know that from the ethanol scandal; we know that from the ministerial scandals that have led to the junking of the code of conduct; and we know that from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

It is a pattern of behaviour by this Prime Minister. With this Prime Minister there is always a missing piece to the puzzle; there is always something that he never tells the Australian people. He is always loose with the truth. That is the defining characteristic of his prime ministership and the way in which his government tries to run national security: always loose with the truth.

These totally accurate remarks are exactly what is required to defeat this Howard government. Cold, factual testimony of the lies of the Howard government. Bye Bye Johnny!

Now, this is what earned Latham this particular headline:

Then the campaign of criticism and disparagement of a good man, Mr Keelty, continued into the Tuesday. If you had to run a lottery, if you had to guess, about who was going to be the lowest of the low, of course, you would turn to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. When they need to go in for the low blow and when they need to go in for the lowest of all comments, they can always rely on the member for Mayo. This is what he said on Tuesday before the issue of the so-called clarification statement:

"I think he (Keelty)is just expressing ... a view which reflects a lot of the propaganda we’re getting from al-Qaeda.

What a disgraceful thing to say about a good man. Here is Mick Keelty, a man who is dedicating his working life to stopping al-Qaeda, being compared by the foreign minister to al-Qaeda’s propaganda. And he is being compared by the foreign minister to their propaganda. You are a disgrace. You are a rotten lousy disgrace to say that about a good man — Mick Keelty. It is an absolutely shocking thing to do.

More power to you, Mark!

link to a transcript of the speech:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079939577153.html