Latham portrait stays on the hook in Labor party room
Mr Latham is accused by his former partner Nathalie Matthews of a "sustained pattern" of abuse.
Her allegations include he pressured her to take part in "degrading" sex acts.
Mr Latham strongly denies the untested claims made in a civil court apprehended violence order application by Ms Matthews, saying he has "broken no laws".
Calls have grown since the allegations were raised for his official portrait in Labor's federal party room to be removed.
But a Labor caucus meeting on Monday was told a "unanimous consensus position" had been reached where the photo would remain, but with a caption providing context.
The words will read: "In 2017 Mark Latham was expelled from the Australian Labor Party and banned for life. His actions do not accord with Labor values and fail to meet the standards we expect and demand."
Mr Latham sits as an independent in the NSW upper house and faces calls to resign over sexually explicit messages allegedly sent to his former partner while sitting in the chamber of parliament.
The decision to add context to Mr Latham's portrait was the right one, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said.
"It's finding the balance, you can't erase history, we can't pretend he wasn't our leader, he was and so there he sits in the leaders' timeline," she told reporters in Canberra."But it's a recognition ... his behaviour and attitudes don't reflect the modern Australian Labor Party."
Senator Gallagher said the wording allowed people to feel something had been done.
"It will exist there forever on our leaders wall," she said.
"It's a pretty strong statement."
Mr Latham lost his bid for the nation's top job at the 2004 federal election to former Liberal prime minister John Howard.
The campaign was marked by his aggressive handshake with Mr Howard outside the ABC's radio studios on election-eve.
The infamous episode was largely blamed for his election defeat and delivered the Howard government a fourth term.
The Federal Court in 2024 ordered Mr Latham pay independent NSW politician Alex Greenwich $140,000 in damages over a homophobic social media post.
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"These are long-term decisions and under caretaker conventions one of the prerequisites is that decisions that are being made that will impact on future governments need [to have] all that information released to both the opposition and the government, and we're not seeing that from the premier," Ms Lovell said. On Saturday, Liberal MP Felix Ellis said Labor had not been briefed yet "because no final decision has been made" on Marinus Link. "We'll continue to work through the process. This is an important investment for our state, and we'll be updating the public as well as the opposition in due course," Mr Ellis said. State Energy Minister Nick Duigan also said on Saturday that "all relevant information will be publicly released" only once a decision on the project is finalised. Professor Twomey said the government did not have to be "undecided" before it consulted. "It's fair enough for a government to take a view as to what it wants to do before engaging in consultation," she said. "But if you're saying a decision means that's our final decision and we're not going to pay one iota of attention to anything you say, that would be rather pre-empting the consultation and making it pointless." At the weekend, the government agreed to support a temporary $410 million increase to Bass Strait ferry operator TT-Line's borrowing capacity. Treasurer Guy Barnett said the government received advice from Treasury on July 25 "recommending TT-Line's guaranteed borrowing limit be increased". "[Opposition treasury spokesperson] Josh Willie was briefed on July 26, and the decision was announced the same day," Mr Barnett said. Mr Willie said he received a call just over an hour before the decision was announced. "Jeremy Rockliff's idea of 'consultation' is a last-minute phone call. That's not consultation — that's a courtesy call after the decision had already been made. "When a major policy decision is being made during the caretaker period — especially one that would bind a future government — Labor must be consulted before the decision is made," Mr Willie said. Professor Twomey said caretaker conventions did not outline specific requirements for adequate consultation, rather that was "a matter for the relevant parties to decide". "Telling someone something an hour before you publicise it does seem to be perfunctory in terms of genuine consultation," she said. "As a general principle, that would be something that you would think would not be adequate consultation. "But, again, these are not binding rules. They're just conventions and it's a matter for the political parties to decide how they want to interpret them."
