Mark Latham labels Safe Schools “a Trojan horse with no penis or vagina”
By Samuel Leighton-Dore
In his ongoing desperation to remain somewhat relevant after a long string of embarrassing meltdowns and sackings, Australia’s very own try-hard Donald Trump, Mark Latham, has today penned a typically ridiculous op-ed for The Daily Telegraph. Ranting on about the “Left’s Gender Agenda”, Latham builds on the argument started by Miranda Devine with her column in the same newspaper last week – painting supporters of LGBTIQ rights as being poisonous to society.
In his article, Latham accuses “inner-city progressives” of “pretending that Australia is a bigoted nation that persistently mistreats women, gay people and anyone from a non-European racial background.” This, he says, is proof that the Left have adopted the Trojan horse tactic – or, as he puts it, “It’s a Trojan horse without a penis or vagina.”
The notion that anyone’s pretending that Australia has a problem with mistreating women is obviously laughable coming from a man who earlier this year took aim at Rosie Batty for “demonizing men” and making those who hit women “feel worse about themselves”; who called domestic violence a “coping mechanism” for men; who last year told members of the audience to “fuck off” during his presentation at the Melbourne Writers Festival; who claimed “the anxiety thing” was “over-inflated” in Australia; who recently shared his support of fellow misogynist Donald Trump’s run for the U.S. presidency.
Latham goes on to take a swipe at the Building Respectful Relationships curriculum, which was introduced to Victorian schools earlier this year and is now being offered as a resource nationally, labeling the program as “deceptive” and accusing its main author, Debbie Ollis, as pushing a “post-structural feminist” political agenda.
“Ultimately, BRR is a lesson in indoctrination, telling young people what they should or shouldn’t think about the role of the media.” He says.
“Premier Mike Baird has allowed for the Victorian disease to cross north of the border and infect our children.”
Introduced after the findings of a 13-month long Royal Commission into Family Violence, the BRR curriculum, which replaces religious study classes, is reported to include lessons in sexual harassment, changing attitudes to gender and the laws of consent.
Of course, similarly to Safe Schools, conservative liberals have been up-in-arms with outrage over the supposedly sexualised content included in parts of the program; a program which has all the makings of a game-changer in the prevention of future-Lathams and their gross displays of misogyny. It’s important stuff for today’s youth, and an exciting reflection of the Victorian Government’s commitment to building a strong equality-based education infrastructure for young people.
However, Mark Latham, if anyone needs to take a seat, be quiet, and learn how to build respectful relationships – it’s clearly you.