RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space
Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
 |  Subject: Funny: OZschwitz Gillard cops Latham's handshake from hell  Sun Aug 08, 2010 5:34 am | |
| JULIA Gillard's election campaign descended into high farce in Queensland yesterday as she was publicly accosted by disgruntled former Labor leader Mark Latham hours after being trapped in a bungled attempt at reconciliation with Kevin Rudd.
Mr Latham angrily confronted the Prime Minister as she mingled with revellers at Brisbane's annual agricultural show, the Ekka.
The political wild man left Ms Gillard and the Labor camp fuming as he stood over the Prime Minister in her personal space and laid on a handshake reminiscent of Mr Latham's notorious "Howard handshake'' during the 2004 election.
Labor was already angry that Mr Latham had gatecrashed an earlier press conference. A menacing Mr Latham approached her, accusing her of complaining to Channel Nine about his new guest role as a 60 Minutes "reporter''.
Ms Gillard, who said she had not spoken to Mr Latham in "several years'', denied making a complaint and smiled throughout his tirade, patting his chest with her hand.
The confrontation was quite a spectacle. As hundreds of screaming fans, children and clowns looked on, Mr Latham pushed his way through the crowd to confront Ms Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson.
"I understand you have made a complaint about me working for Channel Nine,'' Mr Latham said.
"I don't know anything about that, Mark. If you want to work with Channel Nine, that's a matter for you,'' Ms Gillard replied.
Mr Latham said: "If you want to make a complaint, you should really make a complaint about Rudd; he is the one who is sabotaging your campaign. Have a dig at him instead of having a dig at someone who's just trying to do a job.''
A startled Ms Gillard laughed, saying: "Well, nice to see you, Mark, and I hope you enjoy your life as a journalist now. Good luck with that.''
National Party senator Barnaby Joyce, who happened to be standing nearby with his daughter, said: ``It's like a bloody soap opera. Put your hands in the air if you want to go faster, as they say in the sideshows.''
The clash was the only possible event that could have overshadowed the day's earlier disastrous outing: Ms Gillard's meeting with Mr Rudd.
Conducted in deep secrecy, with journalists banned and sent to the other side of Brisbane, the Rudd-Gillard meeting was supposed to be a show of harmony.
But in a heavily stage-managed event for TV, the pair did not shake hands, speak or even make eye contact during the one minute photographers were allowed to attend, instead pretending to pore over a map of Queensland in a show of planning Mr Rudd's state-wide campaign blitz.
With polls showing Queenslanders preparing for an almighty anti-Labor backlash on August 21, Ms Gillard desperately needs to sell an image of reconciliation with Mr Rudd, but he failed to provide any warm, friendly images she needed.
In a press conference after the meeting, however, Ms Gillard tried to present an upbeat image, saying that although she had not discussed a future Cabinet job with Mr Rudd, "Kevin and I share a deep set of beliefs about the future of this country''.
Ms Gillard, who was also unveiling an aged-care policy, hammered the phrases "Kevin and I'', "both of us are passionate'' and "we share'', but said Mr Rudd, whom she deposed six weeks ago in a shock coup, would not be campaigning with her.
"Kevin and I, to maximise spread, will be campaigning in different places. We're moving into the last two weeks of the campaign, time is short and we want to get to speak to a many Australians as possible.''
Mr Rudd did not reveal the nature of the talks but Ms Gillard described it as a "positive meeting''. Having emerged from the one-hour talks, Ms Gillard hit the hustings at a retirement village but was immediately upstaged by the bizarre appearance of Mr Latham and his crew.
He deliberately sought to divert attention from Ms Gillard's press conference, recording a piece to camera in the background and twice walking within 10m of Ms Gillard, then backing away.
60 Minutes executive producer Hamish Thompson told The Sunday Telegraph there had been no formal Labor complaint to prompt Mr Latham's outburst.
But he said: "Word has filtered back to us that she is not happy about Mark being there.''
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