Enjoy the honeymoon, it will outlast the marriage

Mark Latham has turned falling out with people into a habit and Pauline Hanson is no better. Picture: John Grainger

Former federal Labor leader Mark Latham’s decision to join One Nation and run for the NSW upper house is likely to pay dividends for him.

The reason I am of the view that he will secure election in March is because the NSW upper house only requires 4.55 per cent of the vote to win a seat, meaning that a primary vote well below even that low number is all it takes to secure an eight year term on a six figure salary with staff, office space and generous entitlements.

Had Latham run for the senate for One Nation out of NSW he would have had no chance of winning. A senate spot requires 14.29 per cent of the vote.

Latham is following in the foot steps of David Oldfield, who advised Pauline Hanson back in the 1990s before using her popularity to secure himself an eight year term in the NSW Legislative Council. And of course he fell out with Hanson like so many others have.

Of course Latham’s return to parliament won’t be welcomed by most people. The divisive and volatile Latham will likely use parliamentary privilege to defame people and settle old scores. As mentioned, he’ll get eight years if elected — far longer than his relationship with Hanson is likely to last.

Latham has turned falling out with people into a habit, and Hanson is no better. As Labor’s shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said today, they deserve each other.

While Latham hurls bile with little care what the impact of doing so is on others, his platforms have slowly been reducing over the years. However, an eight year parliamentary term, even only at state level and in the Legislative Council, will see him invited on more political programs and able to generate more controversial headlines.

Plus the NSW upper house is always finely balanced — he could therefore have a real legislative impact too, as the government of the day is forced to horse trade with him and other crossbenchers.

Yes, Hanson and Latham will be a volatile pairing that won’t survive long. But before the inevitable fallout, Latham will likely win his way back into parliament, securing even more lurks and perks than those he already enjoys.

Don’t forget, Latham’s last meaningful contribution to public policy as an MP was to pressure John Howard into removing generous superannuation for MPs. Having done so Latham soon left parliament with his own generous super entitlement — not the reformed type that was to follow.

After which, living off the taxpayer, he went on to spruik himself as some sort of outsider in touch with the common man.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.