"Peter Costello, if we win, will not become the prime minister until well into the next term, and that would be a matter for him and the party to decide in the tradition of the Liberal Party," Mr Howard said.Err, I think we've seen that movie before, haven't we Pete?
Two years. Hmmnn... By that time, Turnbull will have learned the PR ropes, so he could well get the nod. But the Oz economy will probably have followed teh USA down the toilet by then (see this and this). So even if Howard DOES hand over to SOMEBODY, it could well be a poisoned chalice.
And how stupid is this? Howard says drought and high oil prices ARE contributing to inflation, but $10 billion election giveaways are NOT. M'kay...? The only way that makes sense is if he's not really planning to deliver on those non-core promises. And of course he can use the looming global economic downturn as an excuse to back away from all the mushy non-core stuff like childcare rebates.
So will Rudd, of course. The Global Financial Meltdown is the big white elephant in the middle of this election campaign. But hopefully Rudd will be cutting out other non-core stuff, like funding for private schools and our military role in Iraq.
