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MR. PETER COSTELLO: WHITE-ANTING THE LIBERAL PARTY

There is a serious question how long the Liberal Party can afford the deliberately de-stabilising actions of Mr. Peter Costello, the Treasurer. Mr. John Howard has been a very successful Liberal Prime Minister. He has won four successive elections, has ensured that there have been no major scandals in the Parliamentary Liberal
Party, and has been able to assess accurately the most important concerns
of the electorate and to safeguard the interests of Australian social groups.
Why, therefore, has there been a newspaper campaign in favour of his replacement by Mr. Costello?

In fact, two significant forces have backed this campaign. First, various ambitious Liberal Party members of parliament, such as Messrs. Petrou Georgeou, Andrew Southcott, Patrick Secker and Bruce Baird, have not been given ministerial positions by Mr. Howard. Most politicians are highly ambitious, but it is
unfortunate that prospective personal advantages are often a major factor in circumstances of this kind. Potential challengers like Mr. Costello often are assisted by ambitious party members for the purpose of destabilisation and self-advancement.

Second, the Canberra press gallery comprises, surprisingly, almost unanimously supporters of the Labor Party. This unfortunate fact produces very unbalanced reporting. If, for example, The Age is opened, prejudiced articles are seen by such as Shaun Carney, Michael Gordon, Jason Koutsoukis or Michelle Grattan. These writers invariably betray a Labor Party mentality. Further, when they discuss differences
within the Liberal Party, they actively support those on the left of the Liberal Party (like Mr. Costello)
against those on the centre or right (like Mr. Howard).

One of the tactics of these journalists, who if they cannot have a Beazley government would prefer a Costello government (or a government of almost anyone else) to a Howard government, is to exaggerate Mr. Costello’s support. For example, in The Age of 7 May 2005, supporters of Mr. Costello were quoted at length, and in the most favourable way, but there was no mention of the fact that a large majority of the parliamentary party prefer Mr. Howard.

Mr. Costello’s personality and character were discussed by Dr. Andrew Campbell in a fully-researched recent article in National Observer.1 Dr. Campbell noted that Mr. Costello lacked the essential qualities of leadership; that he is characterised by his “smirk”, is narcissistic and has shown signs of political decomposition. At critical periods Mr. Costello has demonstrated purportedly “progressive” attitudes closer to those of the Labor Party than to those of the Howard government. Mr. John Stone has put the matter with his customary clarity, pointing out,2 “The divide between conservative voters (whether of the Right or Left) and the New Class crowd who now dominate Labor and who, under Costello, would also dominate the Liberal Party, is not about economics.

It is about cultural values – national sovereignty, judicial activism and the rule of law, crime and punishment, the role of the family in society, the work ethic, the continued appeasement of the Aboriginal ‘industry’ and the ‘victim’ industry more generally, immigration and refugee policy, old-fashioned patriotism versus internationalism, and so on.”

Mr. Costello’s ultimate values and loyalties are cast into further doubt by his personal political history. His biographer, Tracey Aubin, has noted, “the record shows that in the late 1970s, his links to the A.L.P. and significant figures in it were close and substantial . . . Labor was beginning to court Costello as one of its own as early as 1976.” She further states, “Costello’s involvement with young Labor at this time was an active one. In 1976 and 1977 he was an energetic member of a team campaigning to take control of the Shop Assistants’ Union from the National Civic Council and re-affiliate it to the National Labor Party.” She points out that Mr. Costello took part and voted in Young Labor Conferences and attended in 1978 an intensive Labor “school” or training camp; and in 1979, at a similar school, his name appeared just above that of Mr. Paul Keating, with whom he has much in common.

It appears that neither electorally nor in policy would Mr. Costello be a successful leader of the Liberal Party, which he is damaging by his ongoing destabilisation.

1. “John Howard – Leadership and Character; Peter Costello, The Hollow Man”,
National Observer, 2003, Issue 58, pages 12-21.
2. The Australian Financial Review, 16 August 2001.

National Observer No. 65 - Winter 2005