In the last week the Labor Party have started self-destructing with allegations of lies, fraud, theft, tax evasion and drug dealing flying left, right and centre by Mark Latham and it is almost certain most of it is true. It sounds like some sort of mafia movie but it isn’t. It was an internal Labor Party fight that spilt into the media and has given the Australian public a better insight into how the Labor Party works.

It started after the former Labor Party leader Mark Latham did a robocall for the One Nation Party calling Bill Shorten a liar for the Queensland electorate of Longman which is one of the five by-elections being held on the 28th July 2018. Mark Latham was on a discussion panel on Sky News during the week with former federal MP Graham Richardson who called Mark Latham a “King Rat” for attacking the Labor Party and Latham returned fire with the criminal allegations against Richardson. Latham also said that when Graham Richardson has a reunion with his friends it is held at Long Bay jail and we’ll have a closer look at Richardson’s criminal history in a minute.

Below is the argument between Graham Richardson and Mark Latham on Sky News which is educational and good for a laugh.

Latham was also under attack by federal Labor MP’s during the week for calling Bill Shorten a liar in the robocall but nothing was as brutal as the on air fight with Graham Richardson. Latham’s conduct and his fight with the Labor Party is almost certain to have an impact on the by-elections as it has lit up social media and generated many articles by the old media.

Below is an ad on Youtube by the Liberal Party who are already taking advantage of the robocall.

Graham Richardson’s criminal history

Former federal MP Graham Richardson has been involved in many corruption scandals. Everything from the Offset Alpine Printing insurance scam, being involved in the cash for comment scandal, tax evasion to helping Eddie Obeid. The list of Richardson’s crimes is very extensive and too long to write it all here, but journalist Kate McClymont wrote a book titled “He Who Must Be Obeid” and she Tweeted 2 pages during the week in relation to Graham Richardson which are below. They tell the story of Richardson’s involvement with alleged drug dealer Danny Casey and Richardson’s mystery transfer of $1million from his Swiss Bank account.

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Why do the Labor Party still promote Graham Richardson

Last year Graham Richardson gave a speech at the Australian Labor Party conference. Some members apparently didn’t approve of it but the power brokers did.

A row has erupted over the choice of former senator Graham Richardson to deliver a key address at next weekend’s NSW Labor conference, with a senior member of the party’s left faction slamming it as “unbelievable”.

Meredith Burgmann, a former president of the NSW Legislative Council, told Fairfax Media she and others were appalled at the decision to pick Mr Richardson to deliver the prestigious life members’ address. (Click here to read more)

Sky News should be ashamed for having Richardson on

How does a media organisation justify having a criminal like Graham Richardson on their show? Richardson also writes for the News Corp owned The Australian which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch as well.

Mark Latham is no hero

Everything Graham Richardson has done has been well-known and reported for years so why didn’t Mark Latham say something earlier? The answer is because he has been happy to help hide the corruption in the Labor Party when it has suited himself and only attacked Graham Richardson when Richardson attacked him.

As someone else pointed out Mark Latham criticised Richardson for his relationship with jailed former MP Eddie Obeid but Latham wrote an article in 2008 titled “In praise of Joe and Eddie” saying what a great guy Obeid was and said:

The Labor numbers men play hard but their good deeds are legion, writes Mark Latham.

The front page of The Sydney Morning Herald six days ago spoke for the parliamentary press gallery and a good proportion of the political class in NSW.

“The mystery for voters,” it said in full puzzlement, “is how [Labor factional boss] Eddie Obeid and his equally controversial right-wing colleague, Joe Tripodi, wield such extraordinary power that they can make and unmake premiers.” I love a good mystery but in this case, I will do my best to unravel it.

There are corrupt elements in the NSW ALP, especially among its right-wing unions, but I have no evidence of Tripodi or Obeid’s being involved.

Sure, they are hardly angelic – but just as much, they don’t deserve the demonization to which the media have subjected them, so much so that their names have become shorthand for impropriety in NSW. (Click here to read more)

Eddie Obeid is now in jail and facing more charges and Joe Tripodi is lucky not to be in jail.

So why was Mark Latham supporting them in 2008 when everyone else knew they were crooks?

Why Labor call Latham a “rat”

Calling Mark Latham a “rat” seems to be admission that he has ratted on criminals in the Labor Party and has a real mafia and/or organised crime tone about it. They might want to come up with another name to call him as it’s not a good look for the Labor Party. Or should the public start calling Bill Shorten The Don?

With the by-elections coming up in 2 weeks the last thing Shorten needed was for a former Labor leader shining a light on the corruption in the Labor Party. But it is good for voters and long overdue.

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