Labor make Costello question time star

Labor made Peter Costello the star of question time on Thursday and the former
treasurer didn't have to say a word.
The government pulled out every stop to make speculation about Mr Costello's
rumoured leadership ambitions centre stage as ministers weaved him into every
answer.
At one stage, as if to emphasise the banality of the situation, independent MP Tony
Windsor got a big laugh from the floor of the house after saying he wanted to
address his question to Mr Costello.
He wasn't serious. His real target was Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The increasingly frenzied rumours about Mr Costello frustrated Liberal MPs on
Wednesday, prompting replies that the opposition was focused on jobs and holding the
government accountable in what they dubbed the "Rudd recession".
But for the second day, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was forced to address
questions about his colleague who now sits on the backbench and has declined offers
of a more senior position.
The latest source for the tension was a terse exchange between the two in the
opposition party room meeting on Tuesday and Mr Costello's almost daily high profile
media interviews.
Mr Costello's office declined to respond to a report that he had told a colleague he
would run again in his Melbourne electorate of Higgins when preselections close in
late April or early May.
Nor was a comment forthcoming on another report saying Mr Costello had the numbers
for a leadership challenge.
As he exercised with an early morning walk around Parliament House, trailed by TV
crews, Mr Costello's colleagues tried to dismiss the talk of leadership rivalry
saying jobs was the key issue.
Brushing off the rumours, opposition finance spokeswoman Helen Coonan said she would
have expected to have been approached if heads were being counted for a party room
vote.
"It's not something that is an immediate prospect, not even a remote prospect,"
Senator Coonan said.
Community affairs spokesman Tony Abbott said everyone was getting on with their
jobs, including Mr Costello.
"I'm here today to talk about the fundamental dishonesty of this government," Mr
Abbott said.
But Mr Costello put himself in the spotlight again with an early morning interview
on radio in which he repeated his comments that neither the Fair Work Bill nor
emissions trading should go ahead.
Asked later about the comment regarding industrial laws, Mr Turnbull said, "I've
stated what our position is."
In an earlier interview on ABC local radio in Tasmania, Mr Turnbull was asked if he
had a job for Mr Costello.
Mr Turnbull said he was focused on jobs and not on personalities.
"I am not going to get into discussions about personalities. There is a press
gallery full of people who can do that. I am focused on the big issues," Mr Turnbull
said.
In parliament, Mr Rudd accused Mr Turnbull of employing a policy to "duck and cover"
when it came to stating a position on industrial relations.
"The person who's given definition to this is the next leader of the opposition," Mr
Rudd said.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner again joined the attack, mocking the opposition by
saying it was enacting "an excruciating pantomime" which would probably continue for
some time.
"Maybe it is the member for Higgins going through some kind of public therapy
process: all his angst, his bitterness being taken out," Mr Tanner said.
Parliament will resume next Monday with most MPs heading to their home cities late
on Thursday.