peter costello, page-15

How on earth do you mmiraculously arrive at a figure of $800 billion of debt under the Costello Howard era of Government? If any such debt existed it would have been inherited from the previous ALP Government. There is no point in going back to the time whn Howard was Treasurer as anyone knows that his superior at the time, Malcom Fraser, was not known for his fiscal rectitude. PM's have been known to overrule their Treasurers on many occasions, as Howard did in his last years in power.

You can talk all you like about taxes as a percentage of GDP but there is no denying that under the Costello/Howard Government,income tax was reduced significantly.The fact that they were not reduced in line with GDP is a reflection of Costello's fiscal prudence. And it's pity that this reckless Government didn't follow in his footsteps in this regard and exercise a due amount of fiscal prudence, instead of leaving future generations a mountain of Government debt.