Peter Costello

Former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello, in a blast at the Turnbull government on Friday, demanded that the government “smash the high-tax cheer squad”. “The Liberal Party is supposed to be the custodian of small government and low tax,” Costello lamented. While Costello’s acknowledgement that the current government is a big-taxing, big-spending outfit is welcome, it’s more than a little hypocritical given Peter Costello’s performance as the biggest-taxing treasurer of the modern era (check the budget papers, which go back to 1970).

If Costello wants a treasurer who will “smash the high-tax cheer squad”, we have a candidate he should consider… one Wayne Swan.

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