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Costello

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Fair comment D-man, couldnt agree more.

Peter Costellos main failing was he did not challenge for the top
position in good time. Unlike Paul Keating, Peter thought that the
PM would hand over the reins willingly. Not so.

Costello s/have mounted his challenge about 4 or 5 years ago,
when the opposition was led by Beazley or Cain.
Once blond Kevin arrived it was too late.
The mood of the public changed.

The Work choices fiasco was the final nail.

Its all history now.
 
Duckman#72 said:
arguably Australia's greatest Treasurer Duckman
Click to expand...

Certainly Australia's luckiest Treasurer: handed a significantly structurally reformed economy thanks to the Hawke/Keating years and then a monster global boom. Hope he bought a lotto ticket.
 
Timmy said:
Certainly Australia's luckiest Treasurer: handed a significantly structurally reformed economy thanks to the Hawke/Keating years and then a monster global boom. Hope he bought a lotto ticket.
Click to expand...

Nothing lucky about it Tim. Don't forget the "structurally reformed economy" from Keating came tied up with a great big bow and a card attached saying "Happy Deficit". Despite this Costello was quick to acknowledge the good work done(where appropriate) by Keating an Hawke before him. It is a pity others aren't as charitable.

Good comment about Keating aajack. People compare Keatings challenge to Costello but people are forgetting that Hawke was seen as "yesterdays man" at the time, while Howard was still seen by the majority of the caucus as "the messiah".

Not only did Costello clean up the deficit but he also managed to see Australia through the Asian Financial Crisis, the 2001 US recession and the Dot Com Boom during that period. He did this despite Howards spending along the way.

The argument that he will be remembered for just presiding over the era of the global resource boom shows a genuine lack of knowledge. The majority of the Howard/Costello era ran well before mining $$$$$$ kicked in. The foundation work for the position Australia finds itself in today was laid well before 2003. In fact Paul Kelly writes in todays Australian , that the boom was a prosperity bubble that just accelerated the Governments decline. I would argue that Costello was at his best in terms of drive, vision and accomplishments at the beginning of the era, not at the end.

If not for the APRA policies put in place under Costello, the Australian financial landscape would have mirrored the US and the rest of the western world, through the wonderful mortgage back security asset classes. Saved our bacon. So while some call it lucky, others call it foresight and wisdom.

As for luck........you know the old saying "The harder you work, the luckier you get".

Duckman
 
gav said:
What is the role that Costello has been offered by Krudd?

By wanting to employ Costello, is Krudd admitting that Swan is incompetent, or that he doesn't have faith in Swan?
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Gav, Mr Rudd wouldn't be intending to actually put Costello in the Labor Party, as Treasurer or anything else!!

He hasn't been specific about what sort of job Costello could do, but consider e.g. that Alexander Downer is doing something or other (no idea what, really) in Cyprus (I think), and Tim Fischer from the Federal National Party is in Rome in some sort of quasi Church role.

My guess is that if Rudd appoints Costello in some sort of financial equivalent to these positions, way on the other side of the world, he (a) gets him out of the way, and (b) is seen to be being generous to the opposition, non-partisan, and choosing the best person for the job even if he's a Liberal.
Very smart of Rudd really.
 
ajjack said:
.

Costello s/have mounted his challenge about 4 or 5 years ago,
when the opposition was led by Beazley or Cain.
Click to expand...
Ajjack, who was Cain?
Perhaps someone pre my arrival here in 1993. If not, then must have been awfully memorable if I have no idea who it is!
 

Hi Julia

There is another line of thinking that might suggest that Rudd would be better served leaving Costello where he is on the basis that he won't be able to keep quiet concerning Liberal policy making. There is no doubt Costello is clearly unhappy with the Libs backing down on job reform, he hates the idea of an ETS, and he continually says that they must do more to hold onto the mantle as the best economic managers.

Considering the Libs have major party room concerns with all three of these - can Costello keep quiet if given opportunity by the media? And I imagine he would be a very much in demand political commentator given his wit and carisma. Networks will be throwing themselves at him.

Duckman
 
Julia said:
Ajjack, who was Cain?
Perhaps someone pre my arrival here in 1993. If not, then must have been awfully memorable if I have no idea who it is!
Click to expand...

I might be abel to help Julia.

I think he means Crean.

I also think ajjack missed my point a bit. Perhaps he should have challenged 4 or 5 years ago, but the fact remains, at no time in the Howard/Costello era did Costello ever have the numbers. It doesn't really matter when he challenged.

The most pointed piece of evidence is that even when the Libs were quietly crapping themselves over the possibility of a lost election they still didn't want to turn to Costello. If he wasn't going to get the numbers when they were staring into the face of death, he was never going to get them in the good times.

Duckman
 
He could never live without government.

IMVHO he is a total coward!

He could have stayed in Parliament but he realizes
the arrogant smirk will not endear him to anyone.

I know his policies were fiscally conservative, but there is no disputing the fact
that he SOLD the Countries gold reserves for one/quarter of there reserves today.

Was he the greatest? No, I'm not a subscriber far FROM IT!
 
Hi Penfold

It's a slow night so I'll bite.

GumbyLearner said:
He could never live without government.
Click to expand...
Well we'll see. He has made numerous comments that there was more to life than politics - and some would argue that he achieved more success and fame in his short period as a barrister than many legal eagles achieve in a whole career.
GumbyLearner said:
IMVHO he is a total coward!
Click to expand...
Why? Because he didn't jump off the cliff? You would have preferred to have seen the dead body?

GumbyLearner said:
He could have stayed in Parliament but he realizes the arrogant smirk will not endear him to anyone.!
Click to expand...
Quite the opposite. Since the lost election, Costello regularly features highly in polls taken as preferred leader. Why do you think Rudd and Turnbull are pleased to see the end of him. It was a case of not fully appreciating what you've got until it's gone.

GumbyLearner said:
I know his policies were fiscally conservative, but there is no disputing the fact that he SOLD the Countries gold reserves for one/quarter of there reserves today.
Click to expand...
Despite this not making complete sense - what has been the catastrophic result of this? Rudd and Wayne didn't have it to hock off?

GumbyLearner said:
Was he the greatest? No, I'm not a subscriber far FROM IT!
Click to expand...
He was also Essendon's Number 1 ticket holder - you have to love the guy!!!

Duckman
 
He's out and he lost.

That's the key!

He's gone!

What a fighter...

I'll provide the wet paper bag

What a great fella..but not a FIGHTER!

Out of governemt for too long couldn't take it, not an endurance athlete! What an intellectual cripple!

Tissues are available, but seriously what a soft-****!
 
Sorry Julia et al....I meant Beazley and Crean.
Simon Crean briefly held the leaders post before/after Beazley.

Incidentally, Simon Creans father Frank Crean was the
Treasurer in the Whitlam gov.around 1973-75

The Cain erroneously referre to was John Cain.
A rather forgetable Victorian Premier during the 1980s, who
was associated with the Pyramid Build Soc collapse.

Tra
 
Don't get me wrong.

Kim Beazley was supposedly a rhodes scholar and good a shot-put also.
Bob Hawke was a rhode scholar and apparently good in a fight but CERATAINLY good at jacking-up the rents of his local constituents, when he was no longer PM! What a generous fella!


Peter Costello. Was the arrogant guy who tried to tell the whole of the country that his **** smelt better than the whole of the country!

What a surprise! Now he's finished!

Shock? My ****!

Goodbye, arrogant ****!
 
Duckman#72 said:
The argument that he will be remembered for just presiding over the era of the global resource boom shows a genuine lack of knowledge.
Click to expand...


Duckman, thank-you for the snide remark saying I show a genuine lack of knowledge.

I don't want to stoop to the level of insults, so I wont, but you might want to read what it was I typed. I did not say global resource boom, I said global boom - big difference. If your memory needs refreshing have a look at IMF data and reports from April 2007, although the simplified version in Time magazine may be quicker:The global economy has been on a serious roll since 2004. According to IMF data, we're in the midst of the biggest global boom since the 1970s.

Benefits of the Hawke/Keating structural reforms, then the biggest boom in 30 years - you don't get much luckier than that.

APRA I agree on - if Mr. Costello wants to claim credit for APRA then kudos is indeed due.
 
Everytime Costello isnt in the paper for a while

He makes a new announcement..

I will believe it when I see it...
 
Hi Duckman,

OK, also makes sense. I hadn't realised he was opposed to an ETS.
Wish Turnbull was.
 
OK, thanks for the clarification. Simon Crean's brief stint as Leader was pretty forgettable.

I completely agree about the numbers while the Libs were in power.
But Costello turned down the leadership when it was offered at the time of the last election. It's hard to see this as anything other than reluctance to do the hard yards as opposition leader.

I always imagined he'd let Brendan Nelson/Malcolm Turnbull cop that part but be available to jump back in closer to the election. So at least he has apparently decided against that rather unpleasant strategy.

His sharp sense of humour, well outright sarcasm at times, did lend colour to the parliament and I definitely miss him.





Tink said:
Everytime Costello isnt in the paper for a while

He makes a new announcement..

I will believe it when I see it...
Click to expand...
That's also pretty right, Tink. Might depend on what Rudd offers him, if indeed he offers anything at all.
 
Timmy said:
Duckman, thank-you for the snide remark saying I show a genuine lack of knowledge.
Click to expand...

Hey Timmy,

It was the wrong use of English. I admit that. Sorry that it came out as maliciously derogatory. Knowledge was the wrong word.

I meant to say - The argument that he will be remembered for just presiding over the era of the global resource boom shows a genuine lack of political understanding.

Whether you call it a "global boom" or "global resource boom" makes little difference to the argument, but if you want to call it the "global boom" I'm happy to do that.

A lot of good the "global boom" between 2004-2007 did every other western economy Tim. Using your argument - if we were just sucked along by the rest of the world why didn't we hit the bottom floor along with the rest of them?

Are you charitable enough to accept that it was the superior financial position that Australia held? Australia's economic management had been first rate. To say that Australia has just been "lucky", severely underplays and undervalues the financial mechanisms, regulations and frameworks that were developed and implemented over the past 12 years.

I think it is somewhat naive to argue that Peter Costello's legacy rests solely on the period 2004-2007. Again, I maintain it was this period he became stale, jaded and disinterested. He had done his best work by this stage. The economy was ticking along by itself at this stage - no major thanks to Costello.

One other achievement that hasn't been mentioned - Costello showed the way in acqusitions and mergers with the successful BHP Billition combo. Very well done and still very Aussie. Hopefully Labour learn some lessons.

Duckman
 
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