Peter Costello

Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957), Australian politician, has been Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party since 1994, and Treasurer in the Australian government since 1996.

Related Topics:
14 August - 1957 - Australian - Liberal Party - 1994 - Treasurer - 1996

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Costello was born in Melbourne, into a middle-class family of committed Christians: his brother, Tim Costello, is a prominent Baptist minister. He was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School and attended Melbourne's Monash University, where he graduated in arts and law. During his student years he was active in student politics as a socially radical Christian, and for a time was a member of the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party, but after graduating he rapidly became more conservative, while retaining liberal views on some social issues.

Related Topics:
Melbourne - Christians - Tim Costello - Baptist - Carey Baptist Grammar School - Monash University - Australian Labor Party

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During the 1980s Costello became a well-known industrial lawyer, representing employers in some of the best known industrial relations cases. He became counsel to the National Farmers' Federation and to organisations representing small business. Costello made his name in the 1985 Dollar Sweets case, as junior counsel, successfully representing a confectionery company involved in a bitter industrial dispute. In the late 1980s he was identified as part of the New Right movement in the Liberal Party, organised in an anti-union group called the H. R. Nicholls Society.

Related Topics:
Small business - 1985 - New Right

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