There is a terrific piece of rhetoric from Peter Costello today at Fairfax. It is a must read in terms of historical revisionism and politicking, writes David Llewellyn-Smith on Houses and Holes on Macro Business Superblog.
Treasurer Peter Costello
Councils slugged for super blowouts, why not Canberra and states?
Vision Super, which handles the superannuation of all current and past council workers, slapped Victoria’s 79 councils with a $71 million bill earlier this year.
Blogwatch: the Mitsubishi edition
We knew this was coming, even if Mitsubishi was coy … Goodbye Mitsubishi, hello knowledge economy? .. Not just the 380’s fault.
Swan goes further than Costello on the bank cartel
Wayne Swan’s hard hitting comments on the ANZ’s “excessive” rate rise were far more substantial than any action the Howard Government took against the banks over its 11 years in office, writes Stephen Mayne.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
The ANZ has become the second major bank to raise its mortgage rates independent of the Reserve. Wayne Swan was tough on the news, but not tough enough.
The Howard cabinet jumped off the cliff together
It was a fascinating read on Saturday as Paul Kelly pieced together in The Weekend Australian the strange tensions within the Cabinet of John Howard in the couple of weeks before the formal start of this year’s election campaign. It is not often that the mental processes of lemmings are exposed in such detail as Kelly provided.
RBA emerges independent and untainted
In just a few days, the Reserve Bank has increased disclosure and removed the horrible political taint inflicted by former Treasurer Peter Costello and his appointment of the tax-challenged Liberal Party fundraiser, Rob Gerrard, writes Glenn Dyer.
Politicians honour Year of the Family
2007 has truly been the Year of the Family Man in Australian politics. In many cases, a loss to the party has resulted in a big win for working families, writes Jane Nethercote.
For the record – the Last Daily Verdict
Labor clearly won the campaign and snuffed out any chance that John Howard had of snatching a last minute victory, writes Richard Farmer.
Where did ArtStart go?
On Saturday, Mr Garrett officially launched the ALP’s arts policy. But ArtStart suddenly disappeared from the official speeches and the press releases approved by Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd’s office, writes Nicholas Pickard.
The Daily Verdict: Day 24 and only the interest rate rise matters
All the interest rate coverage made it a clear campaigning win for Labor according to The Daily Verdict, writes Richard Farmer.
Campaign snippets
Bad week for Abbott … PM’s morning walk … Cactuses … the dark side of Labor’s energy policy.
The Daily Verdict: Day 15 & call it a draw
Day 15 of the election campaign was like one of those nil all draws at soccer - boring and hard to get excited about. The scoring for Crikey’s The Daily Verdict had the Coalition and Labor locked together with the lowest rating yet recorded for any day.
Tsunamis, red spot specials: a tale of two treasurers
People lament that only their mothers can tell Me Tooists John Howard and Kevin Rudd apart. No-one could make the same accusation of Treasurer Peter Costello and his opposing number Wayne Swan, writes Jane Nethercote
Pushing out past Cup Day was the PM’s biggest punt
John Howard might not be a racing man but he took a huge punt when he postponed the election until after Melbourne Cup Day, writes Richard Farmer.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
”You would release such inflationary pressures in society as would end in recession.” Treasurer Peter Costello is setting out on a tough political sell.
The Daily Verdict: Day 9 and a pensionable win for the Libs
I know I’ll be of pensionable age before this election is held so you can call me biased if you want to but the Coalition’s appeal to grey power put it clearly on top of The Daily Verdict for yesterday, writes Richard Farmer.
The Daily Verdict: Day 4 and The Chaser has the Libs chasing
The people who should really be complaining about last night’s Chaser episode are staunch Liberal supporters. For it is the living John Howard, not the dead Steve Irwin, Stan Zemanek and Kerry Packer, who was really hurt by the Chaser, writes Richard Farmer.
The Daily Verdict: Day 3 and Ben Cousins helps Labor
Ben Cousins has rescued a side many times and yesterday he came to the aid of Labor, pushing the talk of tax cuts right down the news agenda, writes Richard Farmer.
Tax cut pledge prove a bigger surplus isn’t better
John Howard and his Treasurer, Peter Costello, have begun the election campaign with an incredible admission – that bigger isn’t always better when it comes to a surplus, writes Christian Kerr.
Time to end ministers’ defamation protection
We saw an example of the gay abandon with which politicians can defame yesterday when Joe Hockey and Peter Costello disparaged a report by Sydney University academics in to Australian Workplace Agreements.
Proof Rudd’s not preparing for government
If evidence was needed that Kevin Rudd is not taking victory for granted the last few days provided it. Mr Rudd could not give an answer off pat about who would be Treasurer in a Labor Government because he had not really thought about it.
Governments of all persuasions jumping on the Geelong bandwagon
It is footy finals week in Victoria and for once a local team is in with a chance so there was no surprise that the Victorian State Government announced yesterday that it would be making a contribution for construction at the Geelong Football Club’s Kardinia Park home ground, writes Richard Farmer.
Better polls, financial disaster: all good news for Howard
Prime Minister John Howard will be pleased the Newspoll dice rolled in his favour this morning with the two party preferred vote for Labor returning to the 55% level it had been fluctuating around for months before the jump a fortnight ago to 59%.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
Crikey / Monday, 29 October 2007
It sounds hopelessly naive, but whatever happened to simple, unadorned honesty? When did that become a political negative?