Early Life
Costello was born in Melbourne into a middle-class family of practising Christians. He was the second of three children: his elder brother, Tim Costello, is a prominent Baptist minister and current CEO of World Vision Australia. Costello was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School and attended Melbourne's Monash University, where he graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees.
During the 1980s, Costello was a solicitor at the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, then became a barrister and represented employers in some of Australia's best known industrial relations disputes.
In 1983 and 1984, Costello represented the National Farmers' Federation in a case against the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU). The AMIEU was seeking a unit tally system to be set up in abattoirs in the Northern Territory. The dispute focussed on one abattoir, Mudginberri, which chose to fight the AMIEU claim. Ultimately the AMIEU claim was unsuccessful.
Costello became counsel to organisations representing small business and rose to prominence in the 1985 Dollar Sweets case, as junior counsel assisting Alan Goldberg QC, successfully representing a confectionery company involved in a bitter industrial dispute.
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