NSW Labor vowed to never work with Mark Latham. The reality is more complicated
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'I know and can say that he's had texts of support from some Labor MPs in the last couple of days.'
Nor can Labor claim to have a zero-tolerance policy towards MPs with questionable track records. In 2022, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party leader Robert Borsak was captured on camera saying a female MP should have been 'clocked' following a fiery debate in parliament.
Despite Labor MPs calling on Borsak to apologise at the time, in government they have continued to work with him. Last month, this masthead revealed Minns had opened the door to a Shooters plan to establish a new 'hunting authority' and pay bounty hunters to kill feral animals.
Minns has pointed out the government doesn't 'accept' votes on legislation, and, unlike a normal workplace, he has no power to restrict Latham's conduct in parliament. At the same time, he has also criticised the Liberals and crossbench parties such as the Greens for having 'backed each other's motions'.
But ministers regularly negotiate with him. In March, during debate over a bill to establish a new governance model over SafeWork NSW, the government MP leading the debate thanked Latham for his 'carefully considered amendment' to the bill which had been drafted 'in consultation with the minister's office'.
The allegations against Latham are yet another chapter in the long and unsavoury history of politics in this state.
Rape allegations against a Nationals MP aired in the parliament, the alleged harassment of a female journalist by Labor leader Luke Foley, and the former NSW Labor general secretary, Jamie Clements, who quit in 2016 facing sexual harassment allegations.
The Broderick Report, released in 2022, was a shocking indictment on the parliament's culture. The report found five people had experienced attempted or actual sexual assault. There was a culture of 'systemic and multidirectional bullying' in parliament, it found. More than a third of respondents said they had been bullied or sexually harassed over the past five years, and some offices were 'well-known hotspots'.
It also found that almost half of sexual harassment incidents in the past five years were perpetrated by MPs.
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Despite that, by June last year, only 6 per cent of MPs had taken part in a workplace culture program set up following the report's release. That figure has since risen to 48 per cent of MPs who have done the first stage of the training. Only 39 MPs, or about 29 per cent, have done both stages.
The Department of Parliamentary Services did not directly respond to a question about how many of the Broderick report's 31 recommendations had been implemented, but pointed to a $15 million funding announcement made by the government in 2023 to help put the changes in place. They included 10 new human resources staff members.
'Key areas of change have transitioned to ongoing arrangements, including a commitment to ensuring that the parliament has the resources needed to support staff and promote a safe and respectful workplace,' a spokesperson for the department said.
However, progress on other reforms has been slow. A parliamentary committee set up after Labor came to power in 2023 to review the implementation of Broderick's recommendations has yet to hold any hearings, and submissions only closed last month.
A separate inquiry into the Independent Complaints Officer, which is supposed to deal with internal bullying and harassment claims, found most complaints were not investigated because they were outside its remit.
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How much would you pay to see a video of the final discussions Labor had about recognising a Palestinian state? The expression a mozza comes to mind. You could sell more tickets than you might initially imagine. One of the problems we face right across the policy spectrum is the overly optimistic, indeed almost childish belief that there is "a solution". It's as though we actually believe it is a perfect world and the only problem is we have somehow simply got the pieces of the jigsaw in the wrong place. Oh, if it were that simple. The brutal reality is that the world, delightful as it may be in so many respects, is in fact Mother Nature writ large. That means it's ugly. Bambi gets eaten by the lion. The weaker birds are kicked out of the nest. The stronger groups of whatever, plants, animals and people takeover the weaker. Floods, famine, volcanic eruptions and wars kill people. Including children. There is no silver bullet. There is no magic wand. 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Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert does not support Benjamin Netanyahu at all. He does, however, support and, more than most, has put in the hard yards on finding a two-state solution. He nonetheless says our move to recognise first, get the delivery of essentials later is "a populist, symbolic act that will not advance a two-state solution." He's a voice of experience in the Middle East, unlike the cavalcade of outsiders rushing in to appear relevant. For my part, he's made the right assessment. Labor will not get the same response internationally as the UK and France have for making this call. That's quite simply because, rightly or wrongly, any words of support for Israel since October 2023 from our government have seemed as muted as they could possibly be and in direct contrast to that for Palestinians. Rightly or wrongly, it appears our government made a clear choice to be anti-Israel. In contrast, the UK and France have been more conciliatory. Hence, their "distancing" from what Israel would like is much more significant. READ MORE AMANDA VANSTONE: Have you heard our government condemning Hamas and indeed Palestinians at all, let alone with any commitment, for having weapons storage and firing facilities under and next to schools and hospitals? It's a war crime to use innocent people as protection for your military stashes. By doing it, you choose to put innocent people at risk. Have you heard, have we been told, how much we've given to UNWRA after the role so many of their employees were playing both in the October 2023 massacre and elsewhere was established? In any event, there'll be another wasteful Talk Fest at the UN. Politicians from all over the world will fly there and back feeling as if they've contributed something. But nothing positive will have happened. The down side is a message goes to Hamas that brutal terrorism over decades will be rewarded. It tells Palestinians in Gaza that Hamas is an effective advocate on their behalf. If that's not a big mistake, what is? Put all that aside and agree to disagree on what I think is a stupid decision. Can we make it work? In my view, no. To recognise a state, you need a defined area of land. Good luck with that. Sure, there are ideas about what might work. In the past, at the last minute, these ideas have fallen apart. Does anyone think Israel will just walk away and say OK to what a bunch of other people suggest? Will the Palestinians accept what the international community proposes? Start dreaming. Then we need a category of people. Who will we regard as Palestinian? That, when it gets down to the nitty gritty will not be easy. However, if you want an elected government, either to start with or to move towards, you need to face that question. You can't have a state without a government, so you are absolutely stuck with working out who will and will not be entitled to vote. Oh, and we need a way to ensure that terrorist groups like Hamas are kept out. They might agree publicly to go. Might. Sounds great. But you can call for terrorist groups to disarm and leave. You can beat your chest until it's black and blue. My guess is a quick reality check will tell you it's not going to happen. Whatever the public declaration, whatever show is put on for the media, terrorists do not generally just pack up their tents and move away. Or if they do, it is only to return with different tents. You would have to be completely stupid to imagine that Hamas don't already have people groomed up to look like disconnected outsiders but who are in fact trained operatives ready to infiltrate any new state. No amount of luck will help you there. Adding to all of this is the people themselves. A number of Palestinians in Gaza remain supportive of Hamas. Some behaviour in the streets following the events of October was not that of a people looking for peace with Israel. It is extraordinarily difficult to imagine that Hamas could operate in Gaza as it has without the support of the people. Recognition of a state will only boost support for Hamas. Make them stronger. Children who may have been taught all their lives that Jews are infidels who need to be killed are not going to unthink that atrocious thought overnight. Imagine telling them at school that the adults have had a chat with some people in other countries and now all bets on driving Israelis off the planet are off? Let's see how that goes. How much would you pay to see a video of the final discussions Labor had about recognising a Palestinian state? The expression a mozza comes to mind. You could sell more tickets than you might initially imagine. One of the problems we face right across the policy spectrum is the overly optimistic, indeed almost childish belief that there is "a solution". It's as though we actually believe it is a perfect world and the only problem is we have somehow simply got the pieces of the jigsaw in the wrong place. Oh, if it were that simple. The brutal reality is that the world, delightful as it may be in so many respects, is in fact Mother Nature writ large. That means it's ugly. Bambi gets eaten by the lion. The weaker birds are kicked out of the nest. The stronger groups of whatever, plants, animals and people takeover the weaker. Floods, famine, volcanic eruptions and wars kill people. Including children. There is no silver bullet. There is no magic wand. We hate to see suffering, so we keep altruistically fiddling with the jigsaw pieces. This is particularly so where the welfare of children is concerned. None of us want to see human suffering, especially that of children. Under the cover of that vein of unrealistic optimism, Labor says it sees Arab and Muslim states (including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) calling in July for Hamas to disarm and give up power in Gaza as an historic catalyst for peace. In reality, it looks like Labor is just seizing an opportunity to push ahead with a pre-existing agenda. (Someone should write a book about Qatar's role with Hamas generally and with Israel.) If you think there's a snowflake's chance in hell that Hamas will actually do that, as opposed to possibly making appearances of doing it, good luck to you. Buy-now, pay-later schemes rarely work out to be fair. Similarly, saying recognition now, but you bad guys will have to play nice later just seems, well, stupid. Is this a comedy or a tragedy? Who knows. As a piece of theatre, the former but in real life, the latter. Plenty of Australians like me may not vote Labor but presumably we can all recognise that rather than Labor members being completely stupid (OK there are always some exceptions to most things) they just have a different philosophical approach. But the rubric of a different philosophical approach can't explain away what looks to be a knee-jerk, jingoistic, me-too, pipe dream. Labor hasn't handled the whole issue since 2023 well at all. They were way too slow to recognise the flourishing anti-Semitism and consequently to do something effective about it. Our government should have stood up strongly against anti-Semitism very early on. It failed to do so. They have failed over the nearly two years since October 7, 2023 to effectively stand with Israel against Hamas and Palestinians for those horrendous atrocities. Like it or not, Labor is seen as anti-Israel. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert does not support Benjamin Netanyahu at all. He does, however, support and, more than most, has put in the hard yards on finding a two-state solution. He nonetheless says our move to recognise first, get the delivery of essentials later is "a populist, symbolic act that will not advance a two-state solution." He's a voice of experience in the Middle East, unlike the cavalcade of outsiders rushing in to appear relevant. For my part, he's made the right assessment. Labor will not get the same response internationally as the UK and France have for making this call. That's quite simply because, rightly or wrongly, any words of support for Israel since October 2023 from our government have seemed as muted as they could possibly be and in direct contrast to that for Palestinians. Rightly or wrongly, it appears our government made a clear choice to be anti-Israel. In contrast, the UK and France have been more conciliatory. Hence, their "distancing" from what Israel would like is much more significant. READ MORE AMANDA VANSTONE: Have you heard our government condemning Hamas and indeed Palestinians at all, let alone with any commitment, for having weapons storage and firing facilities under and next to schools and hospitals? It's a war crime to use innocent people as protection for your military stashes. By doing it, you choose to put innocent people at risk. Have you heard, have we been told, how much we've given to UNWRA after the role so many of their employees were playing both in the October 2023 massacre and elsewhere was established? In any event, there'll be another wasteful Talk Fest at the UN. Politicians from all over the world will fly there and back feeling as if they've contributed something. But nothing positive will have happened. The down side is a message goes to Hamas that brutal terrorism over decades will be rewarded. It tells Palestinians in Gaza that Hamas is an effective advocate on their behalf. If that's not a big mistake, what is? Put all that aside and agree to disagree on what I think is a stupid decision. Can we make it work? In my view, no. To recognise a state, you need a defined area of land. Good luck with that. Sure, there are ideas about what might work. In the past, at the last minute, these ideas have fallen apart. Does anyone think Israel will just walk away and say OK to what a bunch of other people suggest? Will the Palestinians accept what the international community proposes? Start dreaming. Then we need a category of people. Who will we regard as Palestinian? That, when it gets down to the nitty gritty will not be easy. However, if you want an elected government, either to start with or to move towards, you need to face that question. You can't have a state without a government, so you are absolutely stuck with working out who will and will not be entitled to vote. Oh, and we need a way to ensure that terrorist groups like Hamas are kept out. They might agree publicly to go. Might. Sounds great. But you can call for terrorist groups to disarm and leave. You can beat your chest until it's black and blue. My guess is a quick reality check will tell you it's not going to happen. Whatever the public declaration, whatever show is put on for the media, terrorists do not generally just pack up their tents and move away. Or if they do, it is only to return with different tents. You would have to be completely stupid to imagine that Hamas don't already have people groomed up to look like disconnected outsiders but who are in fact trained operatives ready to infiltrate any new state. No amount of luck will help you there. Adding to all of this is the people themselves. A number of Palestinians in Gaza remain supportive of Hamas. Some behaviour in the streets following the events of October was not that of a people looking for peace with Israel. It is extraordinarily difficult to imagine that Hamas could operate in Gaza as it has without the support of the people. Recognition of a state will only boost support for Hamas. Make them stronger. Children who may have been taught all their lives that Jews are infidels who need to be killed are not going to unthink that atrocious thought overnight. Imagine telling them at school that the adults have had a chat with some people in other countries and now all bets on driving Israelis off the planet are off? Let's see how that goes. How much would you pay to see a video of the final discussions Labor had about recognising a Palestinian state? The expression a mozza comes to mind. You could sell more tickets than you might initially imagine. One of the problems we face right across the policy spectrum is the overly optimistic, indeed almost childish belief that there is "a solution". It's as though we actually believe it is a perfect world and the only problem is we have somehow simply got the pieces of the jigsaw in the wrong place. Oh, if it were that simple. The brutal reality is that the world, delightful as it may be in so many respects, is in fact Mother Nature writ large. That means it's ugly. Bambi gets eaten by the lion. The weaker birds are kicked out of the nest. The stronger groups of whatever, plants, animals and people takeover the weaker. Floods, famine, volcanic eruptions and wars kill people. Including children. There is no silver bullet. There is no magic wand. We hate to see suffering, so we keep altruistically fiddling with the jigsaw pieces. This is particularly so where the welfare of children is concerned. None of us want to see human suffering, especially that of children. Under the cover of that vein of unrealistic optimism, Labor says it sees Arab and Muslim states (including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) calling in July for Hamas to disarm and give up power in Gaza as an historic catalyst for peace. In reality, it looks like Labor is just seizing an opportunity to push ahead with a pre-existing agenda. (Someone should write a book about Qatar's role with Hamas generally and with Israel.) If you think there's a snowflake's chance in hell that Hamas will actually do that, as opposed to possibly making appearances of doing it, good luck to you. Buy-now, pay-later schemes rarely work out to be fair. Similarly, saying recognition now, but you bad guys will have to play nice later just seems, well, stupid. Is this a comedy or a tragedy? Who knows. As a piece of theatre, the former but in real life, the latter. Plenty of Australians like me may not vote Labor but presumably we can all recognise that rather than Labor members being completely stupid (OK there are always some exceptions to most things) they just have a different philosophical approach. But the rubric of a different philosophical approach can't explain away what looks to be a knee-jerk, jingoistic, me-too, pipe dream. Labor hasn't handled the whole issue since 2023 well at all. They were way too slow to recognise the flourishing anti-Semitism and consequently to do something effective about it. Our government should have stood up strongly against anti-Semitism very early on. It failed to do so. They have failed over the nearly two years since October 7, 2023 to effectively stand with Israel against Hamas and Palestinians for those horrendous atrocities. Like it or not, Labor is seen as anti-Israel. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert does not support Benjamin Netanyahu at all. He does, however, support and, more than most, has put in the hard yards on finding a two-state solution. He nonetheless says our move to recognise first, get the delivery of essentials later is "a populist, symbolic act that will not advance a two-state solution." He's a voice of experience in the Middle East, unlike the cavalcade of outsiders rushing in to appear relevant. For my part, he's made the right assessment. Labor will not get the same response internationally as the UK and France have for making this call. That's quite simply because, rightly or wrongly, any words of support for Israel since October 2023 from our government have seemed as muted as they could possibly be and in direct contrast to that for Palestinians. Rightly or wrongly, it appears our government made a clear choice to be anti-Israel. In contrast, the UK and France have been more conciliatory. Hence, their "distancing" from what Israel would like is much more significant. READ MORE AMANDA VANSTONE: Have you heard our government condemning Hamas and indeed Palestinians at all, let alone with any commitment, for having weapons storage and firing facilities under and next to schools and hospitals? It's a war crime to use innocent people as protection for your military stashes. By doing it, you choose to put innocent people at risk. Have you heard, have we been told, how much we've given to UNWRA after the role so many of their employees were playing both in the October 2023 massacre and elsewhere was established? In any event, there'll be another wasteful Talk Fest at the UN. Politicians from all over the world will fly there and back feeling as if they've contributed something. But nothing positive will have happened. The down side is a message goes to Hamas that brutal terrorism over decades will be rewarded. It tells Palestinians in Gaza that Hamas is an effective advocate on their behalf. If that's not a big mistake, what is? Put all that aside and agree to disagree on what I think is a stupid decision. Can we make it work? In my view, no. To recognise a state, you need a defined area of land. Good luck with that. Sure, there are ideas about what might work. In the past, at the last minute, these ideas have fallen apart. Does anyone think Israel will just walk away and say OK to what a bunch of other people suggest? Will the Palestinians accept what the international community proposes? Start dreaming. Then we need a category of people. Who will we regard as Palestinian? That, when it gets down to the nitty gritty will not be easy. However, if you want an elected government, either to start with or to move towards, you need to face that question. You can't have a state without a government, so you are absolutely stuck with working out who will and will not be entitled to vote. Oh, and we need a way to ensure that terrorist groups like Hamas are kept out. They might agree publicly to go. Might. Sounds great. But you can call for terrorist groups to disarm and leave. You can beat your chest until it's black and blue. My guess is a quick reality check will tell you it's not going to happen. Whatever the public declaration, whatever show is put on for the media, terrorists do not generally just pack up their tents and move away. Or if they do, it is only to return with different tents. You would have to be completely stupid to imagine that Hamas don't already have people groomed up to look like disconnected outsiders but who are in fact trained operatives ready to infiltrate any new state. No amount of luck will help you there. Adding to all of this is the people themselves. A number of Palestinians in Gaza remain supportive of Hamas. Some behaviour in the streets following the events of October was not that of a people looking for peace with Israel. It is extraordinarily difficult to imagine that Hamas could operate in Gaza as it has without the support of the people. Recognition of a state will only boost support for Hamas. Make them stronger. Children who may have been taught all their lives that Jews are infidels who need to be killed are not going to unthink that atrocious thought overnight. Imagine telling them at school that the adults have had a chat with some people in other countries and now all bets on driving Israelis off the planet are off? Let's see how that goes. How much would you pay to see a video of the final discussions Labor had about recognising a Palestinian state? The expression a mozza comes to mind. You could sell more tickets than you might initially imagine. One of the problems we face right across the policy spectrum is the overly optimistic, indeed almost childish belief that there is "a solution". It's as though we actually believe it is a perfect world and the only problem is we have somehow simply got the pieces of the jigsaw in the wrong place. Oh, if it were that simple. The brutal reality is that the world, delightful as it may be in so many respects, is in fact Mother Nature writ large. That means it's ugly. Bambi gets eaten by the lion. The weaker birds are kicked out of the nest. The stronger groups of whatever, plants, animals and people takeover the weaker. Floods, famine, volcanic eruptions and wars kill people. Including children. There is no silver bullet. There is no magic wand. We hate to see suffering, so we keep altruistically fiddling with the jigsaw pieces. This is particularly so where the welfare of children is concerned. None of us want to see human suffering, especially that of children. Under the cover of that vein of unrealistic optimism, Labor says it sees Arab and Muslim states (including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) calling in July for Hamas to disarm and give up power in Gaza as an historic catalyst for peace. In reality, it looks like Labor is just seizing an opportunity to push ahead with a pre-existing agenda. (Someone should write a book about Qatar's role with Hamas generally and with Israel.) If you think there's a snowflake's chance in hell that Hamas will actually do that, as opposed to possibly making appearances of doing it, good luck to you. Buy-now, pay-later schemes rarely work out to be fair. Similarly, saying recognition now, but you bad guys will have to play nice later just seems, well, stupid. Is this a comedy or a tragedy? Who knows. As a piece of theatre, the former but in real life, the latter. Plenty of Australians like me may not vote Labor but presumably we can all recognise that rather than Labor members being completely stupid (OK there are always some exceptions to most things) they just have a different philosophical approach. But the rubric of a different philosophical approach can't explain away what looks to be a knee-jerk, jingoistic, me-too, pipe dream. Labor hasn't handled the whole issue since 2023 well at all. They were way too slow to recognise the flourishing anti-Semitism and consequently to do something effective about it. Our government should have stood up strongly against anti-Semitism very early on. It failed to do so. They have failed over the nearly two years since October 7, 2023 to effectively stand with Israel against Hamas and Palestinians for those horrendous atrocities. Like it or not, Labor is seen as anti-Israel. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert does not support Benjamin Netanyahu at all. He does, however, support and, more than most, has put in the hard yards on finding a two-state solution. He nonetheless says our move to recognise first, get the delivery of essentials later is "a populist, symbolic act that will not advance a two-state solution." He's a voice of experience in the Middle East, unlike the cavalcade of outsiders rushing in to appear relevant. For my part, he's made the right assessment. Labor will not get the same response internationally as the UK and France have for making this call. That's quite simply because, rightly or wrongly, any words of support for Israel since October 2023 from our government have seemed as muted as they could possibly be and in direct contrast to that for Palestinians. Rightly or wrongly, it appears our government made a clear choice to be anti-Israel. In contrast, the UK and France have been more conciliatory. Hence, their "distancing" from what Israel would like is much more significant. READ MORE AMANDA VANSTONE: Have you heard our government condemning Hamas and indeed Palestinians at all, let alone with any commitment, for having weapons storage and firing facilities under and next to schools and hospitals? It's a war crime to use innocent people as protection for your military stashes. By doing it, you choose to put innocent people at risk. Have you heard, have we been told, how much we've given to UNWRA after the role so many of their employees were playing both in the October 2023 massacre and elsewhere was established? In any event, there'll be another wasteful Talk Fest at the UN. Politicians from all over the world will fly there and back feeling as if they've contributed something. But nothing positive will have happened. The down side is a message goes to Hamas that brutal terrorism over decades will be rewarded. It tells Palestinians in Gaza that Hamas is an effective advocate on their behalf. If that's not a big mistake, what is? Put all that aside and agree to disagree on what I think is a stupid decision. Can we make it work? In my view, no. To recognise a state, you need a defined area of land. Good luck with that. Sure, there are ideas about what might work. In the past, at the last minute, these ideas have fallen apart. Does anyone think Israel will just walk away and say OK to what a bunch of other people suggest? Will the Palestinians accept what the international community proposes? Start dreaming. Then we need a category of people. Who will we regard as Palestinian? That, when it gets down to the nitty gritty will not be easy. However, if you want an elected government, either to start with or to move towards, you need to face that question. You can't have a state without a government, so you are absolutely stuck with working out who will and will not be entitled to vote. Oh, and we need a way to ensure that terrorist groups like Hamas are kept out. They might agree publicly to go. Might. Sounds great. But you can call for terrorist groups to disarm and leave. You can beat your chest until it's black and blue. My guess is a quick reality check will tell you it's not going to happen. Whatever the public declaration, whatever show is put on for the media, terrorists do not generally just pack up their tents and move away. Or if they do, it is only to return with different tents. You would have to be completely stupid to imagine that Hamas don't already have people groomed up to look like disconnected outsiders but who are in fact trained operatives ready to infiltrate any new state. No amount of luck will help you there. Adding to all of this is the people themselves. A number of Palestinians in Gaza remain supportive of Hamas. Some behaviour in the streets following the events of October was not that of a people looking for peace with Israel. It is extraordinarily difficult to imagine that Hamas could operate in Gaza as it has without the support of the people. Recognition of a state will only boost support for Hamas. Make them stronger. Children who may have been taught all their lives that Jews are infidels who need to be killed are not going to unthink that atrocious thought overnight. Imagine telling them at school that the adults have had a chat with some people in other countries and now all bets on driving Israelis off the planet are off? Let's see how that goes.
