PETER COSTELLO

Peter Costello was first elected a Member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Higgins in 1990.

He was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in May 1994.

Peter has been the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia since March 1996.

In that time, he has brought down seven Federal Budgets, reducing Commonwealth general government net debt by a record $61 billion. He has undertaken the largest tax reform in Australian history, under the policy, endorsed at the 1998 election, A New Tax System.

During his period as Treasurer, Peter has also redesigned financial supervision arising out of the Financial System Inquiry. He has modernised Australia's corporations law under the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program. Australia has been admitted to the international group of twenty countries (G-20) considered systemically important to the international financial system. Peter was also the Chairman of the Council of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2000.

OTHER

Peter is married to Tanya and they live in Melbourne. They have three children, two in secondary school and one in primary school.

Peter holds degrees from Monash University where he was, for a time, a part-time teacher in law and economics/politics, as well as a member of the University Council. Prior to entering Parliament, he was a barrister. He was counsel in some of Australia's best-known industrial disputes and was a regular advocate in National Wage cases.

Peter has been a director of the Australian Constitutional Centenary Foundation and was a delegate to Australia's Constitutional Convention in February 1998. He is also the number one ticket holder at the Essendon Football Club.

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