Major call on Mark Latham portrait after public allegations levelled at him by ex-partner Nathalie Matthews
Latham made headlines last week when his former partner, Nathalie Matthews, alleged a 'sustained pattern' of abuse by him including claims he once defecated on her before sex.
Latham has denied any wrongdoing. He has not been charged with any crime.
Amid the controversy, several people including Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek, have called for his portrait to be removed from Parliament House.
Latham was banned from the ALP nearly a decade ago, after he joined the Liberal Democratic Party in May 2017. He went on to join Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party.
Now, a note will hang below the portrait saying: 'In 2017 Mark Latham was expelled from the Australian Labor Party and banned for life. His actions do not accord with Labor values and failed to meet the standards we expect and demand.'
On Tuesday, The Daily Telegraph's James Willis and Western Sydney Women CEO Amanda Rose joined Monique Wright on Sunrise, speaking about the decision.
'I think we have to be careful about removing history. There's been some poor examples of that in Australia, where statues have been removed unfairly,' Willis said.
'In this case, Mark Latham was the leader of the Labor Party ... so, to remove him altogether would have been silly.
'I think the censorship is a bit of a shot at him.
'But ultimately, the bigger question here is that given what has been revealed about Mark Latham in the last week, and not just the allegations by his ex-partner, but the explicit texts in Parliament, and the other behaviour that's been reported, in any other workplace, whether it was in media, whether he was the CEO of a company, he would have been suspended or gone by now.
'Instead, he's still Parliament and we can't do anything about him for years to come.'
Rose advocated a level of fairness, saying if Latham's portrait was to be removed then everyone's history would need to be re-examined.
'I think the reality is if you're going to remove his portrait for things he's done now, or doing now, then you are going to have to go through every single portrait on that wall and say 'What have they done that we don't agree with?' And then (potentially) remove it,' Rose said.
'I'm sure there's plenty on there that have been great and plenty that have done some dodgy things as well.
'James is right. You don't want to remove history.
'His role ... was back then, and I think just removing someone's entire past because of something that they're going through right now, if you apply that ... you would have to apply that to everyone. Both sides of politics..'
Rose agreed with a plaque.
'That's information (because he was expelled),' Rose said.
'I think just now, everyone is kind of focusing on getting rid of everything with him ... If we did that in a lot of circumstance, a lot of people would have to get removed.'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outraged
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weighed in for the first time since the allegations emerged, saying he never wanted Latham to be the party's leader.
'Mark Latham has views which I find repulsive across a range of areas,' Albanese told ABC's 7.30.
'He's someone who I regret being ever being elected leader of the Labor Party.'
Albanese said his feelings were not in 'retrospect' and he had been doing the numbers for Kim Beazley during the 2003 leadership challenge which Latham narrowly won.
'History has proven that judgment to be correct. Mark Latham since ... has gone further and further and further away from any values that represent mainstream Australia,' he said.
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