For those living in Australia it has been hard to miss all the hype of still presently-sitting [that is memeber of Parliament] former Treasurer Peter Costello and the imminent release of his memoirs - although there have been revelations already and Fairfax newspapers are publishing an extract.
The Age columnist Tracee Hutchison in her op-ed piece "A tragic confession of wasted opportunity" today probably reflects the view of many Australians:
"It's rare that I find myself contemplating gratitude for the length of time John Howard was prime minister. But this week, as former treasurer Peter Costello played us all for mugs promoting his book on taxpayer time, we saw all the reasons why Howard was right to withhold the keys to the Lodge.
That's not to say that either man's blinding drive for power was any more endearing to observe than the other's, but Costello's self-serving revelations of all the things he would have liked the Coalition to have done in office had he had the backbone to have piped up when it mattered most is even more off-putting than the silence he kept at the time. Not saying sorry to indigenous Australians, not signing Kyoto, not doing more to derail Pauline Hanson's divisive agenda that left a festering fissure in this country's psyche.
Mr Could-a Would-a. It's hardly a ringing endorsement. It's too late now to try and locate a conscience, Mr Costello. We ticked those boxes at the federal election."
Read on here.
The Age columnist Tracee Hutchison in her op-ed piece "A tragic confession of wasted opportunity" today probably reflects the view of many Australians:
"It's rare that I find myself contemplating gratitude for the length of time John Howard was prime minister. But this week, as former treasurer Peter Costello played us all for mugs promoting his book on taxpayer time, we saw all the reasons why Howard was right to withhold the keys to the Lodge.
That's not to say that either man's blinding drive for power was any more endearing to observe than the other's, but Costello's self-serving revelations of all the things he would have liked the Coalition to have done in office had he had the backbone to have piped up when it mattered most is even more off-putting than the silence he kept at the time. Not saying sorry to indigenous Australians, not signing Kyoto, not doing more to derail Pauline Hanson's divisive agenda that left a festering fissure in this country's psyche.
Mr Could-a Would-a. It's hardly a ringing endorsement. It's too late now to try and locate a conscience, Mr Costello. We ticked those boxes at the federal election."
Read on here.
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