Peter Costello to leave politics

As the second child, I grew up in the shadow of the first one. The photos were fewer for a start. There are hundreds of photos my brother in the family photo box, but not many of me.

My mother had the time and inclination to fill out the ‘baby’s first year’ book for my brother. But she admitted she didn’t do one for me.

There were times when I wore his blue clothes and people would ask ‘how the little fella is today’. So I lost my gender for a while there, but today blue is my favourite colour.

Continue reading "Your second kid’s not worth as much as the first" »

If you are confused by debate over company tax cuts don’t feel alone. The chap miffed he won’t be guardian-in-chief of the $73 billion Future Fund also is unsure of his way on the issue.

“Well look Chris, I’m in favour of lower company taxes … ” former Treasurer Peter Costello told Chris Uhlman on the ABC’s 7.30 last week.

“But the price … if the price of cutting taxes is to impose a carbon tax - in other words to impose a huge, mammoth new tax of which you give back a very small amount - frankly I’d rather they do nothing.” Familiar sentiment; wrong “tax”.

Continue reading "The taxing business of the politics of tax" »

Nick Minchin is spot on. Making Peter Costello chairman of the Future Fund would have been a very bad decision. If Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and the rest of the coalition’s current economic brains trust can’t see that, it is a real worry.

“The fund must be and be seen to be independent, professional, completely above politics and entirely apolitical,” Minchin wrote yesterday in a letter to The Australian newspaper. Appointing a former politician—even one of the stature of Costello—as chairman would therefore be most unwise.”

He added that those members of the Fund’s board of guardians who favoured the appointment of the former Treasurer to the job were “naïve”. Minchin knows what he is talking about. As Finance Minister for the last six years of the Howard Government, he was—with Costello—the co-creator of the fund set up to make provision for unfunded Commonwealth superannuation liabilities.

Continue reading "Abbott listens to Costello only when it suits him" »

Something about the Warne/Hurley tryst got right up Peter Costello’s nose last week.

In a rant that first bagged Warne and then slagged the self interest of elite sportsmen, the former Australian Treasurer ultimately suggested that parents should fear AFL-run sports clinics.

“Any right-thinking parent would quake with fear to hear that footballers were coming to their daughter’s school to give a little bit of inspiration,” he wrote.

Now, in the past I’ve been quick to skewer wayward sports stars. But to tar all AFL footballers with a single brush is akin to suggesting all politicians are rednecks because a few on the Right like to parrot the policies of One Nation.

Continue reading "Don’t tar and feather all AFL players" »

Peter Costello has been busy, by all accounts, since leaving politics. Yet somehow, he just seems like a guy kicking cans at the moment.

All that talent. All that fight. All that political nous. And there he is now, not in the Capital Hill moshpit, but on all those advisory boards… Sigh.

Costello’s website states, with uncharacteristic blandness, that he is currently managing director of a thing called BKK Partners, and that he reports to the World Bank and a bunch of other worthy entities. Point is, no one really knows what he does. But it’s clear that he’s spoiling for a fight, any fight, with anyone.

Continue reading "Someone, pleeease give this man a meaningful job" »

SUNDAY 24/10/10

Morning

Costello dropped in to Melbourne office today. Has copy of Howard memoirs. Says he is checking it for errors, misrepresentation, and slander. Book is dog eared and crammed with post-it notes.

Costello asked if I kept any records during Costello/Howard era.

Tell Costello I kept a diary.

Costello asks if I could check it. He is doing a ring around to get source material. Is thinking of writing a scathing review of Howard’s book for The Monthly.

Continue reading "Diary of a Liberal Frontbencher: My memoir" »

Back in 2005 Peter Costello made a star appearance at the morning editorial meeting in the news room at The Daily Telegraph. He plonked himself down in what was the deputy editor’s chair. When his choice of seat was pointed out to him he roared with laughter and rolled his eyes, joking that it was his lot in life to forever be number two.

The reason for the meeting was simple. The newspaper, of which I had just become editor, wanted to get to know him better. Not because we were trying to cause trouble – well, perhaps a little bit -  but more so because we thought our Sydney readers were curious about the guy and believed that at some stage he would become PM whether they liked it or not.

The reality in 2005 was that Labor was going nowhere under the leadership of the likeable but lacklustre Kim Beazley. It was our assessment back then that the only probable change of government during the 2004-2007 parliamentary term would be from a Howard Government to a Costello Government.

Continue reading "Why step down for someone who could never step up?" »

The Punch will be live blogging the former Prime Minister John Howard’s appearance on the Q&A program this evening. You can join in from 9:30 PM AEDT.

Continue reading "How honest is John’s version of history?" »

Labor hard man Graham Richardson noted yesterday that courage was a defining quality in a leader. He was speaking about Peter Costello’s unwillingness to do the hard graft of gathering the numbers for a challenge which of course, never came. That tawdry clash of egos which bedevilled the last Coalition governemnt will re-surface this week when John Howard’s memoirs, ``Lasarus Rising’’ hits the bookshelves.

Courage remains important in the contemporary political context too because it is not just seizing power that takes guts, exercising it fully also requires steely determination in the face of resistance.

Even Julia Gillard’s political enemies concede she has passed the first of these tests. Blasting Kevin Rudd from the leadership took a lot of sand.

Continue reading "Sometimes only a hard decision will do" »

The only use of the word ‘debt’ that’s justified in the same sentence as John Howard and Peter Costello is ‘debt of gratitude’.

If we are hearing a lot about the need to return Government to surplus, and hearing the PM use the word ‘conservative’ as much as he can, it is because Howard and Costello set the governance benchmark and changed our political culture in their term in office.

The Westpac Chief Economist, Bill Evans, put up a telling set of graphs at the bank’s budget night dinner showing the debt situation of Australia compared to the US and European countries.

Continue reading "The only debt these two are owed is gratitude" »

Peter Costello has decided to leave his seat of Higgins in Melbourne before the next election meaning that the Liberals will face two by-elections in close succession or even on the same day.

The former Treasurer is yet to give a reason as to why he has left early but he has managed to turn Malcolm Turnbull’s current position from scary to downright horrific. This is like that scene from the latest Saw movie even the actors apparently had to walk out on.

One upside to the departure is that the distraction of Peter Costello will be over with once and for all for Malcolm Turnbull. The downside is this: two men who were the most senior remaining members of the Howard Government, Brendan Nelson and now Peter Costello, have decided to leave Parliament early causing by-elections in the middle of what is already a crisis for Malcolm Turnbull and his party over the ETS.

Continue reading "Things just went from bad to horror movie for Malcolm" »

As Federal Parliament starts to resemble an X-Files episode, the latest mad theory is that Peter Costello is being encouraged to rethink his eight-day-old decision to leave politics.

There are even byzantine claims that the sham email found by the AFP yesterday at treasury official Godwin Grech’s house - which has today been pelted with eggs - was the political equivalent of an exploding cigar aimed at destroying Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership.

The theory has been given extra legs with revelations on The Punch yesterday that the AFP want to have a quiet word to former Costello staffer Paul Lindwall, who until recently was working as Mr Turnbull’s economics advisor, to see what role if any he had in the email affair. There are no suggestions of any wrongdoing on his part but he is a confidante of Mr Grech and the coppers are keen to rule him in or out of the equation.

It’s anything goes stuff in Canberra right now. The wildly speculative Costello talk does indicate one thing - serious Liberal disquiet over Malcolm Turnbull’s judgment on Utegate, and his ability to bounce back from a shocking 24 hours.

Should Peter Costello make a comeback?

The Punch will again provide live coverage of the Question Time mayhem from 2pm.

Editor’s note: David Gazard was Peter Costello’s political advisor from 2003 to 2007 and is one of his closest confidantes.

As Australian politics has become more professional, it has become more brutal.

Gone are the days, by and large, of a certain cross-party respect for each other and certain boundaries that are never crossed. They have been replaced by machine men, spin doctors and campaign managers more focussed on one thing: winning at all costs.

It’s a harder, unforgiving and relentless environment, where people who openly describe themselves as haters abound, and are lionised for describing themselves as thus.

Continue reading "Costello’s faith and decency did not suit brutal times" »

As of this morning there was one other person in Australia who knew that Peter Costello was quitting politics today - his wife Tanya.

A few hours later he was on his feet in the nation’s Parliament, the subject of surprised, hastily-composed tributes from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, on an amazing career spanning almost 20 years, 11 years of them as treasurer.

Those closest to him are today happy and relieved that this genuine family man can now spend some proper time out of the spotlight with those he loves most.

But there is also a sense of melancholy at what might have been.

Continue reading "Party’s over as Peter Costello bows out of politics" »

How about this? It’s from 1995:

A lesser-known Guns ‘N’ Roses song called 14 Years is a particularly apt theme for Costello’s day. Below is some video to listen to while browsing the post:

Lyrics excerpt:

I try and feel the sunshine
You bring the rain
You try and hold me down
With your complaints…

... You know, I’ve been the beggar…
I’ve played the thief
I was the dog…they all tried to beat

But it’s been 14 years of silence
It’s been 14 years of pain
It’s been 14 years that are gone forever
And I’ll never have again.

After Peter Costello resigned it’s worth re-living some of his highs and lows as featured on the front pages of newspapers. You can share your favourite memories of him here - and we’ll take requests on this post for any particular front pages you want reprinted.

This, from July 2006, also deserves a special place in the sun. The rest are below the fold.

Continue reading "It’s been 14 years of silence, 14 years of pain for Pete" »

UPDATE: this is a refiled version of The Punch’s lead from this morning’s edition, which came on the same day Peter Costello confirmed in the nation’s Parliament at 2pm that he would not renominate for Higgins. We will be posting more analysis this afternoon.

PETER Costello has become a permanently destabilising influence within the Liberal Party and should get out of politics unless he’s prepared to run for the leadership or rule out mounting a challenge, a growing number of Liberal MPs believe.

With June 30 looming as the date by which Mr Costello must decide whether to re-nominate for his seat of Higgins, fed-up Liberals believe he should only do so again if he can give a clear indication either way as to his leadership intentions.

Continue reading "Party’s over Pete you’re free to go, fed-up Libs tell Punch" »

What’s your verdict on Peter Costello? How should he be remembered?

Share your unabashed judgments, favourite quotes, tributes and gloating farewells here.

And we should remember this:

Peter Costello has become a permanently destabilising influence within the Liberal Party and should get out of politics unless he’s prepared to run for the leadership or rule out mounting a challenge, a growing number of Liberal MPs believe.

With June 30 looming as the date by which Mr Costello must decide whether to re-nominate for his seat of Higgins, fed-up Liberals believe he should only do so again if he can give a clear indication either way as to his leadership intentions.

In a special report on Mr Costello’s future, The Punch can reveal that the jockeying has begun in Melbourne for his blue-ribbon seat.

Continue reading "Smiles all round as Cozza quits" »

I have a friend in the Liberal Party. Not someone I agree with but a friend nonetheless. His name is Brian Loughnane and he is their Federal Director. Every so often I used to join him for coffee. In the beginning it was like a meeting in Panmunjeom (that hut in the Korean Demilitarised Zone) although the back verandah at the Kurrajong Hotel in Canberra was a bit less formal.

The discussion was not as intense. Most of the discussions were pre-negotiations about the leaders’ debate in the federal election. Nothing was ever given away, no information traded and loyalty to your leader was always a given (whatever the circumstances). After a few of these meetings we’d chat about politics (usually in the US and the UK) and I grew to like the bloke.

One of the reasons we got on was a mutual sense of how difficult our respective jobs could be. He had done tough stints as Downer’s Chief of Staff in Opposition and I was more than half way through a decade long stint at the ALP National Secretariat. Both of us had seen politics and politicians at their best and their worst.

Continue reading "Liberal Party’s 14-year weapon of mass distraction" »

If Peter Costello does decide not to contest the next election, the party will not have to look too hard for candidates to fill the blue-ribbon seat.

The executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, John Roskam, is the first to confirm publicly that he will nominate should Mr Costello not meet the June 30 deadline.

At a meeting with The Punch at the IPA offices in Melbourne’s Collins Street - which Roskam describes only half-jokingly as “Australia’s neo-con headquarters” - Roskam makes it clear that he isn’t calling on Costello to chuck it in.

But the 41-year-old married father of twins says that, with the constant speculation surrounding Mr Costello’s leadership plans, there is a chance for the Liberals to opt instead for change and renewal. 

Continue reading "John Roskam: Is this the next member for Higgins?" »

While Peter Costello often cites his love of serving the people of Higgins as the reason for staying on in Parliament it’s unclear whether the feeling is wholly mutual.

The Punch spent last Thursday in the electorate of Higgins talking to the people caught in the middle of the Liberal Party’s domestic dispute and - frankly - there’s not a lot of concern about what Peter Costello does with his life.

Standing outside his sunglasses shop on Toorak Road I asked 42-year old Emidio what he thought of Costello’s indecision:

“I think he’s been a positive contribution to the country but that doesn’t mean he can’t be destructive to the party. But I think long term it can only be helpful to have someone like him; I don’t know whether that’s helpful to the Liberal Party though. But I don’t think he’s a bad bloke.”

Continue reading "On the mean streets of South Yarra, the lights are on…" »

The Punch has always been impressed by Bronwyn Bishop’s deep knowledge of the standing orders of the House of Representatives, and sympathises with her point of view. But no one should have to endure another Question Time like yesterday’s.

After last week’s fantastic debate about the role of sticky tape and whether it should be allowed as an adhesive in Joe Hockey’s dispatch box props, we had high hopes for some major Kevin Rudd lever-arch file action this week. Even the valiant efforts of Annabel Crabb, however, couldn’t rescue yesterday’s questions from dire tedium.

Wilson Tuckey reckons voters are upset with Rudd’s obsession with laminated photographs of primary school demountables and road works. But it’s sometimes the props that make QT bearable. Remember the cardboard cut-out Kevin Rudd? It was almost better than the real one.

Continue reading "To decorum in parliament The Punch says “No”" »