Costello trying to undermine Howard's position on ports

20/7/05
Peter Costello is going behind the Prime Minister's back over Commonwealth attempts to take over Australia's ports, according to Western Australian Premier Geoff Gallop.
The Australian Newspaper reported today (page two) that the Federal Treasurer was pushing to take over the States' ports with one single regulator.
Dr Gallop said this was in direct contradiction to what the Premiers were promised by the Prime Minister at the recent Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in Canberra.
"Mr Howard specifically told COAG that he did not want a single regulator for our ports," the Premier said.
"Instead, for a change, the Prime Minister embraced the spirit of federalism and agreed to work with the States to develop a more consistent system of regulation.
"It appears that Mr Costello is taking advantage of the Prime Minister's absence from Australia and is trying to undermine his leadership on this issue."
Dr Gallop called on John Howard to pull Mr Costello into line and re-affirm the commitments he gave at COAG.
Premier's office: 9222 9475