Labor Armed To Attack Costello On 'ir Baggage'
Sun Herald
Sunday August 3, 2008
LABOR is preparing to run a Peter Costello scare campaign focusing on his "industrial relations baggage" as online bookmakers up the odds he will take over from Brendan Nelson as Opposition Leader.
Government strategists have been compiling an industrial relations dossier on Mr Costello should he remain in politics instead of taking a job in the private sector.A senior Labor source said the approach would be to remind people at every opportunity that "Peter Costello has devoted his life to arguing for extreme industrial relations laws"."Peter Costello is a bloke who said WorkChoices didn't go far enough," the source said. "This is a great opportunity for us to return to WorkChoices - we made huge gains in the last year before the election on this issue."The comments came as a beleaguered Dr Nelson claimed he had the full support of his party and said he had no plans to discuss leadership with Mr Costello over the weekend following his return from a family holiday in the Pacific."Peter Costello has earned the right to make the decision about his future with his own family, in the best interests of both them and the people of Higgins," Dr Nelson told a NSW Liberal Party meeting yesterday.Labor is worried Mr Costello would be more competitive than Dr Nelson as Opposition Leader, but has identified his past hardline stance on industrial relations as a weakness to exploit. Sportingbet is pricing the likelihood that Mr Costello will be Liberal leader at the next election at $1.80, compared with $2.20 for Malcolm Turnbull and $3.50 for Dr Nelson. Former prime minister John Howard yesterday strongly backed Dr Nelson as Liberal leader.Speaking at the NSW Liberal Party State Council, Mr Howard condemned the Rudd Government for taking credit for his government's economic achievements. > Costello and the Liberal leadership: Kerry-Anne Walsh, Page 51
© 2008 Sun Herald