MP backs Latham

By Nathan Johnston
EMBATTLED Isaacs MP Ann Corcoran has supported her former ALP leader Mark Latham, saying selfinterested people with no interest in winning the election were in charge of the party.
Ms Corcoran, who is facing pressure from within the party to retain preselection, said she agreed with many of Mr Latham’s claims that were published in his controversial diaries released this week.
“His diary will form part of the national history. He has written it as he saw it, and he is correct when he said the party is driven by a group of selfinterested people,” she said.
“These groups are not interested in getting into government, and when he makes that point, he’s absolutely right.
“That’s something that I’ve never understood. I have always been on about getting into government.”
She said there was a party within the party that had pushed Mr Latham out of the job, and that the same people, on the right of the party, were threatening her chances of surviving until the next election.
“There is an awareness in the electorate of what’s going on, but I’ve been encouraged by the comments people have been making,” Ms Corcoran said.
“I’d encourage local people to support me, and hope that commonsense all round will prevail.”
Ms Corcoran, speaking at her Keysborough office on Friday, described Mr Latham as a direct, intelligent person, who was very focussed on what he wanted to achieve.
“I don’t have a problem with many of the things he had to say, and I’m not surprised that Mark has written down and published what he has without thought of censorship,” she said.
“There was a group of 12 of us in Canberra who would go walking, and he was part of that group.
“He was always happy to have a chat about things away from politics, especially his kids. He was down to earth, a nice bloke.
“He’d talk to anyone about anything.”