Friday, September 05, 2008

Michael Costa for PM

I've only read one article on this fellow, but he was just sacked from his position as treasurer of the NSW Labor Party, simply because he had common sense.

  • Fiscally responsible - Check
  • Makes a mockery of climate change alarmism - Check
  • In favor of privatisation - Check.
He would make a terrific PM. Read on..

Mr Costa had made clear to Mr Iemma and other colleagues his view that NSW would require strong economic medicine to retain its AAA credit rating in the aftermath of the collapse last week of the Government's planned sale of $10 billion worth of state-owned electricity assets.

In recent years, Mr Costa has become a key hate figure for the Left, not just in NSW but nationally.

He is an unapologetic climate change sceptic, who believes the current phase of global warming is the result of natural rather than human forces. Last year, he embarrassed Mr Iemma by calling environmental scientist Tim Flannery an "idiot" only months after Mr Flannery launched a climate change forum set up by Mr Iemma.

Mr Costa has been the driving force behind the privatisation program, with many believing his confrontational style was the key obstacle to a resolution of the divisions opened up by the issue between Labor's parliamentary wing and the party and union machine.

The tensions boiled spectacularly to the surface at Labor's state conference in May, where Mr Costa and Unions NSW chief John Robertson had a heated exchange of views before the sell-off was voted down by 702 votes to 105.

....

...

In an interview with The Weekend Australian last Friday that further enraged his colleagues, Mr Costa threatened to resign unless he was given a free hand to initiate radical reforms in a mini-budget due to be delivered in early November.

Those reforms include the outsourcing of rail maintenance, the partial privatisation of Sydney's ferries and a round of public service job cuts.


Good luck in the future, Mr Costa.