THE HON. PETER COSTELLO
TREASURER OF AUSTRALIA

Mr Costello, thanks for your time.

Good evening, it’s very nice of you to invite me on the program.

Mr Costello, are you happy with the new Cabinet?

Absolutely. A very good Cabinet, some very good people in there.

Some exciting, fresh new ideas?

Are you still talking about the Cabinet?

Yes. Are you pleased with the economic position?

Australia’s economic outlook is very strong. Very strong indeed.

That’s good.

It is good. It means we can get on and rebuild the surplus.

I was going to ask you about that. What happened to the surplus? Didn’t we have a huge surplus at one time?

We did, Australia’s economic management in recent years has really been…

Pretty spectacular.

…something of a triumph, yes.

So where’s the surplus?

Well, we had one or two expenses. I mean, we’ve had a refugee crisis to…

Generate.

…deal with. And that was a very, very…

Cheap trick.

…expensive exercise and, of course, we’ve also undertaken a lot of new programs in the light of…

The need to get re-elected.

…the need of the broader community.

Mr Costello, why aren’t we still under threat from the asylum seekers?

I’m sorry. Are we not?

We don’t seem to be. It’s not in the paper these days.

Oh really? I must get out more.

I thought they were coming down here in their thousands.

That was certainly my impression.

So where are they now?

Well, I gather from what you seem to be saying that since the federal election the asylum seekers have found us a lot less attractive as a destination.

Or maybe it’s not in the papers as often?

Yes, although why that would be, I don’t know, do you?

Maybe they’ve stopped throwing their children overboard.

Hang on. I don’t know if we actually knew they were throwing their children overboard exactly.

No, but we were told that they were.

We were told that it had been reported, that there was a possibility that in certain instances it may have been a possible construction, that elements of overboard-throwing had occurred in some specified nautical areas at that time.

We were told that by the Minister of Defence, weren’t we?

He didn’t say it had happened. He said it had been reported that it had happened.

Yes, but in what capacity did he say it had been reported that it had happened?

In his capacity as the defence minister.

A most reliable authority.

It was Peter Reith.

Yes, but even so.

We’re getting out of my area slightly. Can I just say that I can’t answer questions about directly what happened up there. I wasn’t there. I was actually very, very busy here.

Doing what?

Trying to work out how to pay for it, young man.

Mr Costello, thank you for your time.

Don’t thank me, son. Wait until you see what it cost.