The Leftist Prime Minister that Australia nearly had

Can anybody now doubt that rage and hate drive the more committed Leftists?



One year after he left the Labor leadership, Mark Latham yesterday reminded the public why he was unfit to lead the country. In a classic Latham brain-snap, the former MP with a history of violence threw a punch at a Daily Telegraph photographer, injuring his wrist, and stole the photographer's camera. Mr Latham sped off in his car with the camera - and is believed to have smashed it in his shed. Last night he handed the shattered remains of the camera, worth thousands of dollars, in to Campbelltown police....

His attack on photographer Ross Schultz stunned shoppers in Campbelltown. Mr Latham emerged in a fit of fury from a Hungry Jack's restaurant, where he was munching on hamburgers with his sons Oliver and Isaac. Schultz, who was waiting for Mr Latham to emerge but did not enter the restaurant, said the enraged former leader began screaming obscenities and ripped the camera from his shoulder. "He took the camera and began walking to his car. I politely asked him to return it. He placed it on the bonnet and then turned around and threw a left hook at me," Schultz said. "I evaded it easily but he wanted to go toe-to-toe with me. I just kept telling him to calm down, 'You've got kids in the car', but he was off his head. "He was so worked up, I wasn't thinking of the camera." ...

An independent witness to yesterday's incident, Aaron Dredge, was looking out the window of beauty salon Jazz 'U' Up, opposite Hungry Jack's, when he saw a "big fella" throwing punches. "I'm not a political person at all so I didn't recognise him until the photographer told me afterwards who he was," Mr Dredge said. "The photographer was trying to talk to him but he turned away and threw a punch. Latham just went mental." ....

Mr Latham broke the arm of a Sydney taxi driver in July 2001 as he was being driven home after a night out....

Mr Latham has often cried foul at coverage of his private life but has not applied the same standards to himself. In his diaries, published last year, Mr Latham was accused of betraying the confidence of many Labor colleagues, publishing private conversations with the aim of embarrassing them. In one case, he mocked Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd for breaking down following the death of his mother.

More here

Update

From another news report. It looks like Latham was quite insane with anger:

The editor of Sydney's Daily Telegraph, David Penberthy, says the paper intends to seek $12,000 from Mr Latham to cover the cost of the smashed camera - even though the disc containing pictures of the incident was recovered with the photos intact. Mr Penberthy told Southern Cross Radio in Melbourne the former federal opposition leader and MP also threw a punch at photographer Ross Schultz, injuring his wrist, before fleeing with his camera... Mr Schultz began photographing Mr Latham as he emerged from a Hungry Jack's restaurant, where he had been having lunch with his two sons Oliver and Issac.

"He basically came charging out of Hungry Jack's like a bull at a gate, asked the photographer who he was and Ross said `I'm Ross Schultz from The Daily Telegraph'," Mr Penberthy said. "And Latham started screaming at him saying you're a pedophile, you're a pedophile. "We've got a couple of witnesses who were there ... he grabbed the camera, threw a punch but didn't land any."

Mr Penberthy said Mr Latham then put his children in the car and drove home, where he allegedly destroyed the camera. "It looks like he spent a good hour hopping into it with a claw hammer, it's incredible," Mr Penberthy said.

"We went out to the Campbelltown police station last night to report the fracas with the man who would've been prime minister (but) mainly to get our property back. "Our understanding is that after he'd pinched the camera from the photographer at the Hungry Jack's car park he sped off, took it home, took it into the shed and basically systematically destroyed it with what looks like a hammer. "It is in several hundred pieces - it's incredible."

There is another Latham story from last year that is of a piece with the above

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