Ozzy leader comes out swinging

2004-07-02 15:09

Sydney - Australian opposition leader Mark Latham dismissed as "ancient history" revelations on Friday that he was involved in a brawl when he was the mayor of a tough working-class area of Sydney in the 1980s.

Channel Nine is expected to air details of the incident on Sunday after it sent reporters to investigate Latham's background when a request for an in-depth profile was rebuffed by the Labour leader's office.

While the station has not yet revealed the exact nature of the incident it unearthed in Latham's past, the opposition leader got in a pre-emptive shot by discussing an altercation that took place in the late 1980s.

Keen to limit any damage to his image with an election looming later this year, Latham said he was in his campaign office following an election in Liverpool, his home suburb in Sydney's west, when a constituent with a grievance "took a swing" at him.

"He got a bit stroppy (angry), he took a half swing at me, we grabbed him and got him out of the campaign rooms," Latham told commercial radio.

Latham said he did not claim to be an angel, just a normal person from Sydney's western suburbs.

"I've grown up in the western suburbs, every now and then you've got to hold your hands up to defend yourself," he said.

"I played football, I wasn't living in a convent out there - that's just been part of life. I don't go around biffing people, certainly not."

No skeletons in his closet

Latham is regularly taunted by government politicians over a 2001 incident where he crash-tackled a taxi driver, breaking his arm, in a dispute over a fare.

A Sydney newspaper reported last month that as a 20-year-old Latham became the first player from Sydney University's cricket team suspended for bad behaviour after he abused an umpire.

The opposition leader, who has put the Labour party in an election-winning position since he took the top job last December, said he had no skeletons in his closet and was happy to face public scrutiny ahead of the election, expected to be held in October or November.

But the constituent involved in the election room melee, Don Nelson, told a different story, saying Latham had tried to floor him with a sucker punch, only to come off second best.

"Mark Latham was on my right and out the corner of my eye I saw a fist coming in my direction," Nelson told commercial radio.

"I threw my head to one side to try and avoid the punch, which was seen by just about everybody as a king hit.

"Then I feinted with a left and crossed with a right and sat him on his backside."

Prime Minister John Howard refused to comment on Latham's pugilistic prowess, other than to say he had never seen the opposition leader become violent.

Howard said he had never been involved in a fight as an adult but did admit clobbering his big brother as a child.

"He probably threw a punch at me too," Howard said.

- AFP