Costello ducks and weaves on his future

Former treasurer Peter Costello has vowed to stay in federal parliament as long as it suits him and refuses to rule out contesting his seat at the next election.

On a day when the long-anticipated release of his memoirs was blown away by the
Liberals' change of leadership, Mr Costello continued to be coy about his future
plans.
In a lively address to the National Press Club in Canberra, he even teased his
audience with talk of a sequel and a football analogy about future seasons and
premierships.
The man who never realised his dream of leading the Liberals commiserated with
Brendan Nelson and congratulated Malcolm Turnbull, offering any assistance he could
give.
And he gave short shrift to suggestions his months of silence on the leadership
issue had undermined Dr Nelson, or that his continued presence on the backbench
could threaten Mr Turnbull's tenure.
On future plans, Mr Costello continually referred back to his pledge one day after
last year's federal election loss to not seek or accept the leadership.
"I also said that I wanted to continue to serve my constituents which is what I'm
still doing," he said.
"I've always said if my view on that changes I'll let you know.
"If I get to the situation where I feel that I'm not able to properly discharge my
constituent duties I'll make that announcement at the time."
Whether he would again seat pre-selection for the Victorian seat of Higgins for the
next election due in 2010 was anyone's guess.
"I'll tell you about the next election when the next election is being discussed."
On the drama of the morning's change of leader, Mr Costello said he had not advised
Dr Nelson to put his job on the line, but said it had given him the best chance of
survival.
"He was told in the paper he was going to be to be given a month's stay before the
execution," Mr Costello said.
"Wouldn't you rather get the execution over and done with?"
He said Mr Turnbull now has a "wonderful" opportunity to lead the party and win
government.
"If I can be of any assistance to him I'm very, very happy to do so," Mr Costello said.
"To come back to the football analogy, there's always a season next year. You
rebuild and you come back.
"(In politics) you've got to wait three years for your next crack at the premiership
season but that's what we ought to be aiming for.
"We ought to be aiming to be re-elected in 2010."
The former treasurer noted that many of his fellow Liberal MPs, when handed a copy
of his memoirs, had first gone to the index to see if there was a reference to
themselves.
"Any one of my colleagues that I didn't mention in this, there is a sequel coming
and please give me a paragraph that you'd like to write (about yourselves)."
After fielding a number of questions he deemed to be hostile, Mr Costello quipped
that the sequel would be about the Australian press.