Columnist For The Australian
After quitting politics, Costa became a regular columnist for The Australian. His columns were controversial for their attacks on environmentalists and Kevin Rudd. For instance, in one column he attacked Rudd's The Global Financial Crisis essay in the left-leaning journal, The Monthly, arguing that "All the way through his essay Rudd tries to have it both ways, cherrypicking economic history to support his political prejudices". Another column claimed that "Rudd has a highly developed ability to ignore inconvenient views he has recently held when they conflict with his immediate political requirements". Costa was also critical of Rudd's plan to lift the age pension eligibility threshold to 67, arguing that "it will alone make very little real contribution to the important challenge of dealing with the costs of an ageing population".
Costa was also critical of Malcolm Turnbull, then leader of the Opposition, writing once that "The Howard government lost many ministers but continued to have electoral success because, whether you liked it or not, you knew what the Howard government stood for. Does anybody know what the Turnbull opposition stands for?" - a comment that earned the praise of Daily Telegraph conservative columnist, Tim Blair. In mid-2009, Costa stopped writing regular columns until he returned a year later, after the revelation in Betrayal, a book by Daily Telegraph journalist Simon Benson, that Rudd had reneged on a promise he made to Iemma to publicly support the electricity privatisation. Costa wrote that:
- At a personal level these events are a kind of political morality tale. On one side is Iemma, an honourable man who was motivated by a misguided but strongly held belief in labour solidarity and doing the right thing by the ALP. On the other side is Rudd, a person who made a promise and consequently accrued benefits without reciprocating when he was required to do so. It is about the selflessness and selfishness. It is about character.
Costa also predicted that Rudd's character would be an issue at the 2010 Federal election stating that "(Rudd) chose to put his political popularity before the policy position. He chose to take the advice of machine men. These same machine men no doubt are closely watching the opinion polls and planning to politically execute him if his standing in the polls continues to decline". A few weeks later, Rudd resigned as Prime Minister shortly before a leadership ballot he would have lost.
In December 2010, Costa had a piece named Reform the cure for Labor's ills published in The Australian which contributed to the Labor Party's internal debate after the 2010 federal election, which nearly saw Labor lose government after only one term in office. In that article, Costa argued that Labor's problems were due to the rise of individuals who value winning elections at all costs, and have scant regard for sound policy. Costa also warned that Julia Gillard's embrace of the Greens was a tactical mistake as it had the effect of legitimising the Greens. Costa recommended that Labor reject the Greens by showing the negative economic and social consequences of their policies.
Read more about this topic: Michael Costa (politician)