Peter Costello

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Peter Costello

Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957), Australian politician, has been Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party since 1994, and Treasurer in the Australian government since 1996.

Costello was born in Melbourne, into a middle-class family of committed Christians: his brother, Tim Costello, is a prominent Baptist minister and current CEO of World Vision Australia. He was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School and attended Melbourne's Monash University, where he graduated in arts and law. During his student years he was active in student politics as a socially radical Christian, and was for a time an office-bearer of the Social Democratic Students Association of Victoria, an affiliate of the Victorian Branch of Australian Young Labor. After graduating he became more conservative, while retaining liberal views on some social issues.

During the 1980s Costello became a well-known and frequently briefed junior barrister, representing employers in some of the best known industrial relations cases. He became counsel to the National Farmers' Federation and to organisations representing small business. Costello made his name in the 1985 Dollar Sweets case, as junior counsel, successfully representing a confectionery company involved in a bitter industrial dispute. In the late 1980s he was identified as part of the New Right movement, which was organised to some extent in the H. R. Nicholls Society, a political discussion group focused on workplace relations of which he was a founding member.

Contents

1 Entering politics
2 Life in government

2.1 For as long as the party wants Howard, or two terms in office?

3 External links
4 References

Entering politics

Peter Costello (left) as a student activist in 1977. Third from right is Michael Danby, now Labor MP for Melbourne Ports.

In 1990, having defeated the sitting Liberal member (Roger Shipton) in a preselection ballot for the safe Liberal electorate of Higgins, Costello entered the House of Representatives at the age of 32. He was immediately promoted to the Opposition front bench and proved an effective debater against the Labor government of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. By 1992 he was shadow Attorney-General, and in 1993 he became shadow Finance Minister under Dr John Hewson. He was a strong supporter of Hewson's policy proposals at the 1993 elections, including the goods and services tax (GST).

Hewson's shock defeat at the 1993 Australian Federal Election brought Costello into consideration as a leadership contender. When Hewson was deposed as Liberal leader in May 1994, Costello supported Alexander Downer for the leadership, and became his Deputy Leader and shadow Treasurer. But this "dream team" soon proved a disappointment. In January 1995 Downer resigned, but Costello decided not to seek the leadership himself. Instead he supported John Howard's return to the leadership. It was revealed in July 2006 that this may have been due to a December 1994 meeting between Howard and Costello where, Costello and Ian McLachlan (the only other person present) claim Howard agreed to stand aside after one and a half terms as Prime Minister in return for Costello's pledge not to challenge for the leadership.[link] However, Mr Howard has denied ever making such a deal.[link] The collapse in the economic credibility of the Keating government in the eyes of the public gave Howard and Costello an easier run to power in the March 1996 elections.

Life in government

As Federal Treasurer, Costello presided over a conservative fiscal policy. This reduced the level of government debt and improved Australia's international standing, but led to an increase in the gap between rich and poor which had already begun to widen as a result of the economic deregulation under the Hawke government. Inflation continued to fall, interest rates reached record lows, and unemployment also fell. Whether this was due to luck or good management was hotly debated by Australian economists.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

The Howard Government's major economic policy has been tax reform, despite the fact that Howard had gone into the 1996 election promising that he would "never, ever" introduce a GST. The GST returned in the government's 1998 election policy, and Costello was an effective campaigner for it. When the GST legislation was finally passed through the Senate with the help of the Australian Democrats, however, it was Howard, rather than Costello, who took the credit. Costello's own agenda of labour market deregulation remained blocked by the government's lack of a Senate majority, until July 2005.

Costello became Treasurer aged only 38. Despite this he expected to gain the Liberal leadership some time during Howard's second term as Prime Minister, as per Howard's December 1994 offer[link]. After the 2001 election, however, he began to show signs of impatience, and was visibly disappointed when Howard announced in July 2003 that he intended leading the government into the 2004 elections.

Despite his very conservative financial policies, Costello remained notably less conservative than Howard on some other issues. Most notably, he supported the 1999 referendum to make Australia a republic. After the 2001 election Howard gave Tony Abbott the key Workplace Relations portfolio, and in 2003 promoted him to the even more important Health portfolio. This led to suspicions that Howard had decided to stay on as Prime Minister so that he could groom Abbott - a Catholic who was much more conservative than Costello on social issues - as his successor. However, the contradiction on the Medicare safety net by Abbott has been a major embarrassment for him, and has led to speculation by Julia Gillard on May 10, wondering how Abbott "might explain how [Costello] has forced you into a position where you have not kept your word".

Costello has been to some extent the victim of his own success. The strong performance of the Australian economy during his time as Treasurer meant that his political mettle was never really tested, as Abbott's certainly was in the demanding Health portfolio. During the 2004 election campaign, Howard avoided saying whether he would serve a full term if re-elected, saying only he would remain as long as his party supported him. His success in winning control of the Senate raised further speculation that he would delay his retirement, and the prospect of a Costello leadership succession appeared to recede, although Costello remains the likely successor.

In 2006, Peter Costello caused controversy during a lecture at the Sydney Institute when questioned about the government's refusal to legally recognise same sex marriage. Peter Costello said, "I think we do recognise the rights of gay and lesbian people in Australia. We do not criminalise [their] conduct or behaviour." He also pointed out that the law was changed in 2004 to recognise same sex couples with regards to superannuation. He stated that marriage should only be recognised between heterosexual couples.[link].

For as long as the party wants Howard, or two terms in office?

Howard has recently come under heavy fire from both sides of the Liberal Party for a deal struck with Costello in 1994 with Ian McLachlan present, that if the Liberal party were to win the next election, Howard would serve two terms of office and then allow Costello to take over. There is internal criticism from the Liberal Party over these revelations. Some Liberal MPs are calling for Howard to announce his intentions for the 2007 federal election as soon as possible as Labor have made recent headway in the polls, possibly due to recent changes to Australian society such as federal IR reform. There are internal fears that if the transition were to be left too late, it would become very hard for the Liberal Party to win office again. Kim Beazley has stated Howard should be held accountable for his WorkChoices changes at the 2007 election, not Costello. Howard continues to deny any deal was made, yet Costello and McLachlan insists there was. There are now calls for Costello to either challenge, or quit.

Howard appeared on Channel 7 Sunrise (TV program) at 7am and denied that he ever promised to step down after 2 terms.

External links

[Official Site]
[Parliament Site]
[Respect Australian values or leave: Costello] Interview with Peter Costello, by Tony Jones for Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Lateline" TV program.

References

Notes

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