Curl up and Die, Costello

He's barely 18 months into his first term, but nonetheless Kevin Rudd should be under electoral pressure. While the global economic crisis is not of Labor's making, voters tend to ignore this fact and blame the incumbent government for any pain they are feeling. Further, the government's response to the crisis has missed the mark in a lot of areas and Rudd's novice economic team ought to be feeling some political heat.

Instead it is the opposition who are in disarray and floundering way behind Labor in most polls. This is despite having a viable alternative PM in Malcolm Turnbull leading the party. Why is this so? It's true that Turnbull's shadow ministry lacks some depth, however a lot of the Liberals problems can be attributed to the insidious presence of Peter Costello on the back bench.

On any reasonable measure, Costello's behaviour since the 2007 election has been a complete disgrace. In a display of petulance that would make any self-respecting 2 year old blush, he very publicly passed up the party leadership after the 2007 election. He has spent his time (and taxpayers money) writing his turgid memoirs and turning up in Parliament sporadically at best. Now, 18 months later, he seems to have done an about face and wants to become leader again. Not by gathering support from his colleagues and openly challenging Turnbull - oh no. We know very well from his years playing second fiddle to John Howard that Costello lacks the intestinal fortitude for an upfront, mano-a-mano leadership battle. Instead, he is running a behind the scenes, weasel campaign designed to deliberately and cynically undermine Turnbull's leadership and leave the party with no other option but to install him as leader.

Why is he doing this? Well, for a start he has probably realised he has few other career options. The word in corporate circles is that his CV has done the rounds of most of the investment banks and other business heavyweights, but there was little to no interest from prospective employers. It's unsurprising in this market that the corporate sector isn't exactly a jobhunters paradise, but equally all the cheap political points Costello used to score about investment banking salaries won't have endeared him to would-be employers. If indeed he has applied for work at some of the organisations he so publicly castigated as Treasurer, you can add "blatant hypocrisy" to his already extensive list of undesirable qualities .

Secondly, and more pertinently, he clearly sees an opportunity. A return to office in 3 years must have seemed a remote possibility to Costello when he had his post-election dummy spit, but with the host of problems now facing the country, there is a genuine possibility that the Coalition could get re-elected in 2010. Ironically, Costello is probably closer to his dream now than when he was working under Howard.

Whatever his motives, the Liberal Party should act decisively and put a stop to this nonsense. Otherwise, the scenario Costello is very clearly trying to bring about is bound to happen. Costello may have his failings, but he is a very adept politician. After all, he studied under the master for 12 years and some of Howard's rat cunning has clearly rubbed off.

The simple fact is that the country doesn't need politicians games at the moment. It needs leadership, and the best person the Liberals have to deliver that leadership is the incumbent. Turnbull is both intelligent and articulate but best of all, he's made a success of his life before politics. He therefore has a much broader perspective he can bring to the role that career politicians like Costello, Howard and Rudd can never have. The party hierarchy should give him a reasonable chance to let him display his obvious leadership qualities and tell Costello to go jump in the lake.

If Costello genuinely wants to make himself useful and contribute to public life, then he could do a lot worse than go work with his brother Tim. It really is hard to believe that the two Costellos were spawned by the same mother. On one hand, you have the saintly, inspirational Tim who has devoted his life to defending the poor and disenfranchised and on the other you have the smirking, petulant Peter.

Nonetheless he would have a rolodex full of contacts in world governments that an organisation like World Vision would die for. Putting his contacts and experience to charitable use would be a fitting exclamation mark on Costello's contribution to public life. However, from what we know about the man, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen. For Peter Costello, playing politics and feathering his own nest seem to be much more important than helping improve the world.