Just Like Howard (But Can Do PowerPoint)

He's the voice of the boom. Treasurer Peter Costello has been Australia's carnival barker for 10 years. Using a backdrop of blissful financial chart lines, Costello can sound like an auctioneer. Promoting his 11th Budget at a recent Liberal Party fundraising event for 700 in Sydney, Costello was in full boom. Heckling the man who was about to cut their taxes by $100 a week was not this crowd's style. Where a property salesman employs a gavel, Costello does a PowerPoint floor show with happy hands and a jerky delivery. You can never predict when Costello's number will switch from the...

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