Prime Minister Julia Gillard in trouble? Goodness, no. She's just got a few staffing issues

Former Labor opposition leader Mark Latham sees dark forces at work on these fair pages

Former Labor opposition leader Mark Latham sees dark forces at work on these fair pages

Helpful advice? Former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson in The Australian:

THESE errors indicate Gillard's political antenna sometimes doesn't pick up dangerous signs on its radar. Those mistakes should have been picked up by her staff and discarded before they hit her desk. There are real faults in the Gillard office that need to be fixed, and soon. Although loyalty is admirable, in this case that loyalty has the potential to do great harm. Her door must be open not only to cabinet ministers but to new ideas and to criticism. Gillard herself is good enough to make it in the long run but she must acknowledge problems with her staff and fix them.

Skulduggery! Latham in the Australian Financial Review yesterday:

MORE than most, Richo knows how to destabilise a leader. A proven technique is to criticise their staff. This is a proxy tactic, avoiding direct confrontation with the leader while still undermining their performance. The Arbib-Richardson tactic will be to grind down Gillard, seeping poison into the press, a slow-burning strategy of attrition. Given the way in which their coup against Rudd backfired electorally, greater subtlety is required. A viable plan is to watch Gillard's polling numbers deteriorate over time, making a leadership change inevitable. If [Chris] Bowen can build a strong working relationship with the independents, he should be prime minister by the end of 2012.

Tell 'em to bugger off. Christine Jackman and Cameron Stewart in The Weekend Australian, November 27, 2004:

LABOR leaders on the campaign trails of the future will be required to report daily to head office in a bid to prevent a replay of Mark Latham's disastrous "lone-wolf tactics" during the 2004 election campaign. The ALP national executive made the confidential recommendation this week after a post-mortem on Labor's electoral drubbing received several complaints that Mr Latham had repeatedly ignored or dismissed advice from the party's senior strategists and pollsters during the campaign. An investigation by The Weekend Australian, including interviews with senior sources from Labor campaign headquarters, Mr Latham's office and his travelling party, has confirmed that Mr Latham's refusal to engage with campaign headquarters contributed to chaos on the election trail.

Gary Hardgrave on Brisbane radio station 4BC yesterday grills the PM, but only lightly:

NOW I don't want to lower the tone completely but this bloke Mark Latham won't go away, he says you're a dud and you can't win, you must love him really?

PM: Well, Mark Latham writes for one of our newspapers, I must admit I don't normally get round to reading the column and I didn't get round to reading it this morning.

Hardgrave: OK, so Mark Latham no answer, that's the simplest way from your point of view?

PM: Well, you know, Mark Latham has been involved as a personality I suppose is the best word one could use for it. He was involved as a personality during the election campaign, and he continues to be a commentator. I'll let him do that, I'll just get on with the job of making a difference for Australians.

Et tu Cheryl? Former Democrats leader and ex-Labor MP Kernot joins the Greens bashers in yesterday's The Sydney Morning Herald:

WHAT the Greens do better than the Democrats ever did is triumphalism and "spin", Greens-style. And so far they have succeeded in attracting little scrutiny of the finer details of their claims. Whether the Greens are open to pursuing other pragmatic compromises next year is unclear. Will they refuse to budge on emissions? Will they strike the equivalent of a Democrats-GST one-step-too-far deal, alienating their base? The Democrats casually adopted the "Keep the Bastards Honest" tag and found it hard to claim credit for strong environmental and social policies. The Greens have found it easier to move from a single-issue party to embrace accountability without having to modify any of their more "radical" policies and tactics.

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