Mark Latham slams Kochie for going too soft on Prime Minister Tony Abbott

THINGS got heated on Sunrise this morning, with Mark Latham cutting loose over the Budget and taking a stab at Kochie. It was seriously entertaining.

THINGS got heated on Sunrise this morning when Kochie crossed to former opposition leader Mark Latham, who accused the breakfast television co-host of all but ‘kissing the Prime Minister on the cheek’.

Kochie, who was reporting live from Canberra today, led a three-way conversation with Latham in Sydney and Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett in Hobart to discuss the 2015 Federal Budget.

Delivering his assessment of Tuesday night’s budget, Latham declared that it proves “Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey are no different to Rudd and Gillard.”

Kennett then took Latham to task, asking: “When did you ever run a small business?”

Latham hit back: “Well, I’m a media commentator making a few bob, but why do you need to be running a small business to know about the economy?

“Kochie, I’ve got something you haven’t got, and I’ve got something Jeff Kennett will never have — and that’s an economics degree.”

And the outspoken former Labor leader wasn’t done just yet. Challenging finance guru Kochie, “instead of you having a little love-in with the Prime Minister, how about putting some real fiscal questions to him, instead of kissing him on the cheek!”

Kochie copped it from Latham during the live cross.

Kennett struggled to compose himself as Latham accused him of ‘not knowing what day it was’.

The on-air spat continued to ramp up, with Kennett battling to keep things on track while chuckling to himself. He flagged his biggest concern as the rising level of youth unemployment.

“It’s about 10.4 per cent, its 30 per cent in some rural parts of Australia. And if anyone’s going to correct that, it’s not going to be the large employers, it’s going to be the small employers. So if we want to turn that figure around, I think we’ve got to try and use these times to incentivise small business.”

A fired-up Latham interjected: “How would you know where the jobs are coming from, Jeff Kennett? You wouldn’t know what time of day it was!

“There’s a million economic decisions to be made in the economy today — consumers, businesses — and they don’t need boneheaded people like you, Jeff Kennett, to tell them where the jobs are coming from. Let the economy run itself. Government, get out of the way.”

With both Kochie and Kennett laughing uncontrollably, they asked what time the hot-tempered 54-year-old got out of bed this morning.

“It’s all about d*ckheads talking about stuff they know nothing about — that’s what it’s about,” Latham concluded, ignoring the lighthearted stab.

Back in the Sunrise studio, co-host Andrew O’Keefe couldn’t resist one last cheeky comment: “I think Mr Latham’s been supporting his locals by having four cups of coffee already this morning.”

“Bloody hell,” was all Sam Armytage could manage.

Ah, budget. It brings out the very best in all of us.