Michael Pascoe writes:

Treasurer Peter Costello and Smage columnist Ross Gittins are both taking on TheAustralian’s tax-cuts-for-the-rich campaign this morning, albeit from rather different perspectives.

After
being savaged by fallout from the Treasury’s IR law briefing paper,
Dollar Sweetie perhaps thought he had nothing to lose by braving an
interview with Crikey’s Stephen Mayne on Melbourne ABC local radio.

Crikey’s founder asked Sweetie about the tax campaign being run by the Oz
and whether Murdoch had it in for him. “I agree it’s quite a campaign,
everybody’s noticed it,” replied the Treasurer. “But there’s no reason
to believe it’s from Rupert.”

Which is a rather interesting
answer. It sounds like Pete’s been on the phone to someone at News Ltd
or News Corp, having a whinge and extracting some sort of assurance
that the world’s most powerful media mogul isn’t out to get him – he
can dream his political dreams a little longer.

In a country
where Murdoch controls more than two-thirds of the newspapers and
enjoys a close alliance (but certainly not a consortium, your honour)
with the leading television network and publisher of the majority of
magazines, no aspiring prime minister could aspire very far if he found
himself blacklisted by Rupert.

The flip-side of any hypothetical
assurance from Murdoch Inc is what Costello might be able to do in
return. The idea of a Murdoch campaign against Costello has struck me
as rather strange as the Treasurer has bent the English language over
backwards to help Murdoch circumvent the Foreign Investment Review
Board guidelines.