PANTS ON FIRE

Costello speaks: an ethics lesson from a liar

A low key Peter Costello fronted a doorstop outside the Ministerial Entrance at 8:40 this morning with a very important message: you can’t trust journalists. (Click here to listen to the audio.)
Those of us in the handful of hacks who were around at that time – and there were some senior people there, like Michelle Grattan, Paul Bongiorno, Fran Kelly and David Speers – got an ethics lessons from a liar.
Twice yesterday – in the morning, on Channel 9, and later in the day on Sky – the Treasurer was asked if he’d said of the Prime Minister and the government: "He can't win; I can. We can, but he can't."
Twice he denied it – but he was in trouble once he’d done it on Sky, because the interviewer countered with: "Because one of those who was there present has told me today there's no question you did and there were others present."
At the doorstop today he denied a charge that has not been made – "I have never urged supporters of mine to carp against the prime minister nor have I ever urged supporters of mine to do anything which would undermine the Liberal Party" – and then tried to turn the matter into an ethical issue.