(Excerpt from interview with Australia's Treasurer - for you o/s people - he is to be PM very, very, very late in Howard's next term (if there is one)).
Lib ad:
BARRIE CASSIDY: It's not true to say ... it's not true to say, and surely you know it. It's not true to say that 70 per cent of Labor's front bench are union officials.
PETER COSTELLO: Well, let's go through them one by one.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Wayne Swan. No, no let's start with Wayne Swan.
PETER COSTELLO: We'll start with Ferguson, we'll start Crean, go to Bevis. Let's ... I mean what do you say it is? 60 per cent?
BARRIE CASSIDY: What union did Wayne Swan work for and what was that job?
PETER COSTELLO: Wayne Swan is a member of the AWU (Australian Workers' Union).
BARRIE CASSIDY: He is a member of the union.
PETER COSTELLO: Yeah...
BARRIE CASSIDY: Your ad says that he was a union official.
PETER COSTELLO: Part of the AWU faction, is that right?
BARRIE CASSIDY: What was his job?
PETER COSTELLO: And he was ALP State Secretary, I think.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Yes. You say that he is a union official. What was his job and what union did he work for?
PETER COSTELLO: Well, he was an AWU official ... member.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Member.
PETER COSTELLO: A member was he, yeah ok?
BARRIE CASSIDY: Correct. Craig Emerson?
PETER COSTELLO: I don't know about Craig.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Well, your ad says that he was a union official.
PETER COSTELLO: Well, was he a union member?
BARRIE CASSIDY: No, he wasn't ... he was a union member but not an official.
PETER COSTELLO: I think he worked on Bob Hawke's (inaudible), Barrie.
BARRIE CASSIDY: He did.
PETER COSTELLO: And he was a union official, wasn't he?
BARRIE CASSIDY: No.
PETER COSTELLO: You sure he wasn't a branch official?
BARRIE CASSIDY: Positive.
PETER COSTELLO: Ok. But what do you say it is if it's not 70 per cent? 60 per cent? I saw the Labor Party said it was 60 per cent.
BARRIE CASSIDY: But there must be some value put in truth in advertising, and...
PETER COSTELLO: I will pull out the list for you. Let's ... Ferguson, Crean, George, Shorten, Combet, Bevis, what are we ... am I flagging? ...Kim Carr, am I flagging here?
BARRIE CASSIDY: Let's move on now to...
PETER COSTELLO: Lindsay Tanner. Am I flagging? I mean, are there not enough? The 15 per cent of the private sector work force ... Nick Sherry.
BARRIE CASSIDY: But a couple are not.
PETER COSTELLO: What, a couple of them are not? A couple of them are not? Out of what, 30?
BARRIE CASSIDY: That's all I'm saying. Unemployment...
PETER COSTELLO: Ok, a couple are not out of 30, Barrie, gee, I mean...
BARRIE CASSIDY: It's still important to get the, I think, advertising correct.
PETER COSTELLO: Well ok, OK we can rest assured, because a couple of Rudd's front bench are not former union officials.
BARRIE CASSIDY: No, a couple named by the Liberal Party.
PETER COSTELLO: I will sleep easy tonight.
Well. Anyone would sleep well after all that dancing!
The man really does know how to keep himself entertained.
