Kilgor
06-11-2009, 06:01 PM
Military are meatheads, Mark Latham says
Latham also attacks Labor for selling out
DEPUTY Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended the members of the Australian Defence Force after former Labor leader Mark Latham called them "meatheads".
Ms Gillard says the men and women of the ADF do a first-class job.
Mr Latham accused the nation's soldiers of having "limited intelligence and primeval interests in life'', in a column in today's edition of The Australian Financial Review.
He said former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon was better off out of the portfolio, with even the most tedious of public duties "better than knocking around with the meatheads of the Australian Defence Force''.
When asked about the comments, Ms Gillard said in Sydney that Australian soldiers were respected around the world.
"I, as Deputy Prime Minister, deal with many men and women in our defence forces and as Deputy Prime Minister I'd certainly want to say that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force do a first-class job, a fantastic job,'' she said.
"Their skills and abilities are recognised around the world.
"Our soldiers, our defence personnel, join with those in other nations for operations around the world, and around the world they are known as highly trained, highly professional, highly skilled personnel who get on with doing dangerous work in the interests of this country.''
In a wide-ranging assault Mr Latham wrote that when he worked for Gough Whitlam the iconic Labor leader had told him the one of the purposes of his office as an ex-prime minister was "to milk the system" and take full advantage of publicly funded entitlements.
"Regrettably, milking the system has become a regular part of Labor's culture," Mr Latham wrote.
Mr Latham contrasted the frugality of former Labor leaders John Curtin and Ben Chifley with the modern ALP breed.
"Labor talks a lot about working families but most of its Mps are working hard for the high life," Mr Latham wrote.
"Their favoured form of infrastructure is the gravy train."
He said Labor has "jettisoned its traditional values" and ALP figures viewed power as an "entree card to the social establishment rather than a forum for radically attacking elites and social inequality."
"Labor's ministers have been duchessed in the establishment, crippling the credibility of their social democratic beliefs."
Mr Latham wrote Mr Fitzgibbon should be relieved to be out of the Rudd ministry because he privately had held the Prime Minister in contempt and could now regain pride and self-respect.
"For most of his time in opposition Fitzgibbon despised Rudd, remorselessly ridiculing every detail of the man's existence, form his gawky ways and peculiar hairstyle to his wife's less-than-glamourous-looks."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25620471-421,00.html
Anyone who voted for this man 2004 should be ashamed of themselves.
Latham also attacks Labor for selling out
DEPUTY Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended the members of the Australian Defence Force after former Labor leader Mark Latham called them "meatheads".
Ms Gillard says the men and women of the ADF do a first-class job.
Mr Latham accused the nation's soldiers of having "limited intelligence and primeval interests in life'', in a column in today's edition of The Australian Financial Review.
He said former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon was better off out of the portfolio, with even the most tedious of public duties "better than knocking around with the meatheads of the Australian Defence Force''.
When asked about the comments, Ms Gillard said in Sydney that Australian soldiers were respected around the world.
"I, as Deputy Prime Minister, deal with many men and women in our defence forces and as Deputy Prime Minister I'd certainly want to say that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force do a first-class job, a fantastic job,'' she said.
"Their skills and abilities are recognised around the world.
"Our soldiers, our defence personnel, join with those in other nations for operations around the world, and around the world they are known as highly trained, highly professional, highly skilled personnel who get on with doing dangerous work in the interests of this country.''
In a wide-ranging assault Mr Latham wrote that when he worked for Gough Whitlam the iconic Labor leader had told him the one of the purposes of his office as an ex-prime minister was "to milk the system" and take full advantage of publicly funded entitlements.
"Regrettably, milking the system has become a regular part of Labor's culture," Mr Latham wrote.
Mr Latham contrasted the frugality of former Labor leaders John Curtin and Ben Chifley with the modern ALP breed.
"Labor talks a lot about working families but most of its Mps are working hard for the high life," Mr Latham wrote.
"Their favoured form of infrastructure is the gravy train."
He said Labor has "jettisoned its traditional values" and ALP figures viewed power as an "entree card to the social establishment rather than a forum for radically attacking elites and social inequality."
"Labor's ministers have been duchessed in the establishment, crippling the credibility of their social democratic beliefs."
Mr Latham wrote Mr Fitzgibbon should be relieved to be out of the Rudd ministry because he privately had held the Prime Minister in contempt and could now regain pride and self-respect.
"For most of his time in opposition Fitzgibbon despised Rudd, remorselessly ridiculing every detail of the man's existence, form his gawky ways and peculiar hairstyle to his wife's less-than-glamourous-looks."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25620471-421,00.html
Anyone who voted for this man 2004 should be ashamed of themselves.