Peter Costello entered Parliament in 1990.
To-day, June 15th 2009 he announced his
retirement from Politics much to the obvious
joy of both his Party Leader and the PM.
He confirmed this in Parliament, when he said:

"It is just possible both sides of the
dispatch box are happy with the announcement
I've made."

He's a young man, so what does he plan to do next?

And -

How will he be remembered - politically?

His book is on sale at our local post office
for $5.00. Perhaps now, the price will go up.

Your thoughts please...

I suspect that Peter Costello won't be remembered much at all given that he's had so much attention whilst he's been in Government. He'll probably fade away like his book sales unless he joins the after-dinner speaking circuit or does the odd political interview etc.

How should he be remembered? As being a strong treasurer, good speaker and capitaliser but overwhelmingly a non-reformer.

Will the price of his book go up? Probably not.

He’ll be remembered as John Howards Court Eunuch,… cagey, clever, but lacking the vitals to rule.

I've got to admit that I didn't really know
all that much about the man's background
until I started this thread and began doing
a bit of research on him. He's actually got
quite an impressive CV.

His portfolio with The Treasury tells us that:
"Peter Costello has brought down eleven consecutive
Federal Budgets, including nine surpluses..."
that he "completely eliminated Commonwealth net debt
which stood at $96 billion in 1996..." which means
"saving the Government $8 billion a year in interest
payments."

But there's more - "Peter holds degrees from Monash
University where he was, for a time, a part-time teacher
in law and economics/politics, as well as a member of
the University Council. Prior to entering Parliament, he
was a barrister. He was counsel in some of Australia's
best-known industrial disputes and was a regular advocate in
National Wage cases."

"He has been a member of the IMF Executive, a Governor
of the World Bank and Chairman of the Council of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD)..." and the list goes on.

I didn't vote for him or his Party, and I never really liked
the man - but I have to admit that - just perhaps -
he may have been a better alternative to what's currently
available in the shape of Malcolm Turnbull and Co., for
the Libs.

I guess now we'll never know.

Peter will only be remembered because of the incompetent Government we now have. He actually looks very clever compared with our incumbent Government. Hopefully Tony Abbot will now make a run for the leadership.

Foxy, smart men are sniffing the wind
and preparing the House of Representatives
for the men's legislature
of the Republic of Australia.