Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Gonski, as I said, was not asked to make any recommendations, and he did not. He spoke to board members and summarised their views for the department. He has made that clear and I have made that clear. What we have, in the face of the outstanding candidate, Mr David Gonski—welcomed by the other side—is that some of those opposite who still hanker for Mr Costello to have the top job now want him to have a different top job. It was extraordinary. Today we saw former Prime Minister John Howard actually advocating for the first time for Peter Costello to have the top job.