Eunometic
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Peter Costello, 1995, on Keating: "This is a day on which the Prime Minister should hang his head in shame. This is a day when he should apologise. This is a day on which this will be etched into his political tombstone: the worst current account deficit from the worst Prime Minister in Australian history".
Mark Latham, 2003, on Costello: "Last week's national accounts figures were a wake-up call for the TreasurerÑa wake-up call indeed. Some time ago I explained to the House how the dog was asleep on the porch. Let us see if the national accounts can wake him up. There was growth in the June quarter of 0.1 per cent, which is the second lowest quarterly figure in 10 years; there was growth for the financial year of just two per cent, which is half the Treasurer's forecast; there was a productivity rate of negative 0.1 per cent for the quarter and negative 0.2 per cent for the financial year; there was a current account deficit of $13 billion, which is a record 6.7 per cent of GDP; and there was a household savings ratio of negative 1.2, which is the lowest on record. What does negative 1.2 mean? It means dissavingÑthat the Australian people are engaged in dissaving rather than policies produced by the Treasurer to build up Australia's national savings. Indeed, it is the third quarter in a row where the household savings rate has been negative, where the Australian people have been dissaving under the weight of the financial burdens of this government.
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How can we take seriously the idea of the Treasurer criticising people about policy inconsistencies when he is a guy who started his political career as a Labor Baptist and ended up a Liberal Anglican?
I have heard of people in politics who have changed their party and I have heard of people who have changed their religion, but I have never heard of anyone who has changed both his political party and his religion. The Treasurer has gone the daily double in the sell-out stakes. You talk about the road to Damascus; someone who changed his political party and his religion has gone to a ridiculous extreme. In fact, this Treasurer, in terms of consistency, makes Billy Hughes look like a loyalist. A change of political party and a change of religion, and he has the hide to come in here and talk about consistency. The truth is that the Treasurer is the lost soul of the Liberal Party: he does not know where he has been and he does not know where he is going. He is smug and complacent. His economics are all smirk and mirrors. We need to wake him up. We need to force him into adopting a better economic policy and into giving the Australian families and workers a better deal. (Time expired)" (MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE: Howard Government: Economic Performance) (Hansard, Sep 2003)
Peter Costello's record as treasurer, summary: 1. Negative productivity growth 2. Record current account deficit 3. Foreign debt under Costello, from $193b to $359b (2003) (from $10,500 per capita to $18,000) 4. Record household debt: from $290b to $660b 5. Record trade deficit 6. Record credit card debt 8. Record low home affordability 9. Failure to take the RBA's advice to regulate property seminars-scammers 10. Income tax up $5000 per household
