The former federal Labor leader will announce he will lead NSW branch of the party and stand at state election in March

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has confirmed he is joining Pauline Hanson’s One Nation as a candidate for the upper house of the NSW parliament.

Latham plans to campaign on issues of immigration, congestion and over-development in Sydney.

He also counts failings in the education system, political correctness, identity politics and power prices among his most pressing priorities.

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“One Nation has the policies and NSW certainly needs a third choice – Labor and Liberal are on the nose,” he told 2GB radio on Wednesday. “I want to provide people with a choice, a third choice, to say you can vote One Nation and have practical, common sense solutions to these big issues in our state.”

The number of votes required for election to the New South Wales upper house – the Legislative Council – can be small and because of complex preference swaps mean, micro parties such as the Shooters and Fishers party and the Christian Democrats often hold the balance of power.

Luke Foley, the NSW Labor leader, said the ALP would not preference One Nation and challenged the Coalition to also rule it out.

Luke Foley (@Luke_FoleyNSW) NSW Labor will not do any preference deals with One Nation.



We will not preference One Nation candidates anywhere in NSW.



I challenge the Liberals & the Nationals to make the same commitment.#nswpol

Senator Hanson said her new recruit would help put the major parties on notice.

“I intend to take it up to them in the federal (parliament) and Mark will take it up to them in the state and let’s get this country moving,” she told 2GB.

Upon hearing the news, former Tasmanian Labor premier David Bartlett called him a “sick, sad, sorry loser”.

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The one-time Labor leader did ads for both One Nation and the Liberal Democrats during this year’s Longman federal by-election, earning him the title of “king rat” from his former party colleagues.

Latham led Labor to defeat against John Howard in 2004 before quitting federal parliament in 2005.

He says he was sacked as a columnist for Australian Financial Review in 2015 for making offensive comments about domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty.

Latham was also sacked from Sky News after just four months co-hosting a show, due to offensive comments about fellow Sky presenters and the teenage daughter of the Reserve Bank governor.