Interview with Tim Lester
Nine News
15 June 2009
3:30pm
EO & E
Subjects: Peter Costello
JOURNALIST:
Senator first as a great supporter of Peter Costello’s, how do you feel today about his announcement?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well like all colleagues I would have been delighted had Peter renominated, but ultimately these are very personal matters, decisions for an individual and their family. Overwhelmingly I’m grateful for the tremendous contribution that he has made to the Parliament and to the nation.
JOURNALIST:
So is it a sad day?
FIFIELD:
Oh, look, always mixed feelings when a good and valued colleague decides to move on. But ultimately I think it is a vote of confidence in the leadership team that we have and the new crop of colleagues who are coming through, who are very well placed to keep the government to account and to fight the next election.
JOURNALIST:
It’s true, isn’t it, that as a long as a figure as powerful as Peter Costello is in this place there was going to be a question mark on the Liberal leadership, wasn’t there?
FIFIELD:
Well governments will always seek to raise issues of leadership about the opposition, and I’m sure the government will now move on to another figure. But Peter was elected at the last election and had the right, and I think, the duty, to serve out his term and to represent the people of Higgins.
JOURNALIST:
Given we know he is now going, we can surely say some things about his past that there mightn’t have been the freedom to say before. For example would he have been a great Prime Minister?
FIFIELD:
Oh, no doubt, Peter would have been a fantastic Prime Minister. If Peter is guilty of anything during our time in government, it’s probably of putting the Party’s interests ahead of his own personal ambitions.
JOURNALIST:
He should have tried for the job?
FIFIELD:
Well, today is a day to focus on what Peter achieved. But he was the most loyal deputy that I think any leader of our Party has ever had and that’s to his credit.
JOURNALIST:
Too loyal?
FIFIELD:
Well, can you be too loyal? Peter always put the Party first and that’s to his credit.
JOURNALIST:
You would have been one who would have wanted to see him in that Prime Minister’s role. Is that a disappointment for you and other Costello supporters?
FIFIELD:
He would have been a tremendous Prime Minister but that’s the way the dice roll in politics, you can’t determine these things. The opportunity didn’t present. But he was a fantastic Treasurer.
JOURNALIST:
You know him better than most, how sad is he that he has actually finally had to say I’m not going to ever have that job?
FIFIELD:
I think Peter looks back on his time in Parliament with great appreciation for what he was able to achieve. Balancing the budget. Repaying Labor’s debt. Steering us through the Asian Financial Crisis. Introducing the G20. He has got a lot to be proud of.
JOURNALIST:
Of course. What were his great strengths do you think? Not specifically the goals but talking about the person, what do you think he did better than anything else?
FIFIELD:
He was a person of very clear personal convictions. He had a very clear sense of right and wrong. A tremendously loyal person to his colleagues, his family and friends. And I think that manifested itself in the way that he went about his task as Treasurer and Deputy Leader of the Party.
JOURNALIST:
A wonderful Parliamentary performer.
FIFIELD:
Tremendous, tremendous. Peter was someone who was always able to light the fire in the belly of the Parliamentary Party and to instil in the Party a sense of belief in itself and always able to give the Party heart and hope.
JOURNALIST:
So how much of a hole does he leave in the Liberal Party now that he is going?
FIFIELD:
Well he is a parliamentary performer in a league of his own, but we have a very strong leadership team, fronted by Malcolm. We have very good colleagues who are in our Shadow Cabinet, and we’ve got a terrific crop of younger members coming through now.
JOURNALIST:
Does he now leave Malcolm Turnbull, in effect, unrivalled for the job of Leader of the Opposition?
FIFIELD:
Well Malcolm’s position has not been in dispute since the day he was elected. The Parliamentary Party have rallied around Malcolm and he will lead us to the next election, and he will be the next Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST:
Yes but you and I both know that the speculation around the Liberal Party and certainly outside the Liberal Party that if Peter Costello stayed it could only be for one job, that eventually he would need to take the leadership. Surely it matters that that speculation now ends.
FIFIELD:
Peter made clear the day after the election that he was looking to his future post politics. He has confirmed that today and the Labor Party will try and make mischief no matter who is in the parliament.
JOURNALIST:
Are you saying he was never going to try for the job as leader after the 2007 election, it would never have happened?
FIFIELD:
Well Peter made clear the day after the election that he wasn’t available for the leadership, that he was looking to his career outside of politics. He confirmed that at two subsequent ballots. So I think Peter has been pretty consistent.
JOURNALIST:
Are you surprised about today?
FIFIELD:
Oh, Peter plays his cards close to his chest. But that’s his right.
JOURNALIST:
You didn’t know?
FIFIELD:
I found out as all my colleagues did. But that is as it should be. It’s ultimately a matter between him and his family. And that’s how it should be.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have any other comments you would like to make, Senator?
FIFIELD:
Look I think Peter will go down as one of the most substantial figures in the Australian Parliament. He will go into the pantheon of Liberal heroes. And I hope, and I’m sure, that Peter will still continue to make a contribution in public life. And I hope he continues to write and to speak.
ENDS