Biography
Political Party Activity
Following his graduation from University in 1982 Mark has worked for a series of Labor
politicians, including John Kerin, Gough Whitlam and Bob Carr. Mark served as
Mayor of Liverpool Council between 1991 and 1994, having been elected to
Liverpool Council as an East Ward Alderman in 1987.
In national politics, Mark was the Member for Werriwa (1994-2005), a Labor Shadow Minister
(1996-98 and 2001-2003) and Leader of the Opposition (2003-2005). After holding
an early lead in the polls, he led Labor unsuccessfully in its attempt to win
government against John Howard at the October 2004 Federal election.
In November 2018 Mr Latham announced his candidacy for the NSW Legislative Council as the
State Leader of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party. On 23 March 2019 he was
elected to the NSW upper house with the highest personal vote (below-the-line)
in the ballot. The overall success of One Nation’s campaign resulted in Mr
Latham’s running mate, Rod Roberts, also being elected. After a 14 year break,
Mr Latham has re-entered parliament with a strong focus on policy issues in the
education, urban planning, energy and law reform portfolios. One Nation has
part of the balance of power in the NSW Legislative Council.
Local Government Activity
Personal
Born on 28 February 1961, Mark grew up in Green Valley near Liverpool in Western Sydney
and went to school at Ashcroft Primary School and Hurlstone Agricultural High
School, where he was Dux in 1978.
Qualifications, Occupations and Interests
Mark studied Economics at Sydney University, winning the JK Galbraith Prize for Political
Economy in 1980 and graduating with an Honours degree in 1982.
After leaving parliament in 2005, Mark was a columnist for various newspapers, including the
Australian Financial Review (2007-2015) and Sydney’s Daily Telegraph
(2016-2018). He is the author of 13 books, including Civilising Global Capital
(1998), The Latham Diaries (2005), Outsiders (2017) and Take Back Australia
(2018).
Mark is one of Australia’s leading advocates of ‘outsider’ politics. He strongly opposes
the impact of political correctness and identity politics on public debate,
freely speaking his mind on a range of issues. In March 2017 he established an
online platform ‘Mark Latham’s Outsiders’. It ran a successful, high-profile
Save Australia Day campaign in January 2018.
