The big news over the weekend was that former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello had been appointed as a director on the Board of Guardians of the federal government's Future Fund.
It was an interesting decision. On the one hand it made sense because the Future Fund was set up by the previous government when Costello was Treasurer. But on the other hand it was the second surprise, politically bipartisan appointment by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
It followed the September appointment of former opposition leader Brendan Nelson as the Australian ambassador to the European Union.
Almost as soon as Costello's appointment was announced, former Prime Minister Paul Keating publicly slammed the move.
"The Future Fund is all about national savings, yet during Costello's period as Treasurer, national savings were so depleted," Keating was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as saying.
"Costello was a policy bum of the first order and squandered 11 years of economic opportunity."
Meanwhile, federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull told ABC News that Costello's appointment exposed hypocrisy on the part of Rudd.
"So here he is appointing the number one neo-liberal free market extremist to the board of the Future Fund. It's a good appointment but it does show what nonsense Mr Rudd has been speaking about the economy," he said.
However, the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) chief executive John Brogden said he would have been disappointed if Keating didn't come out on the attack.
"Keating's disapproval actually legitimises his appointment," Brogden said.
Brogden said the appointment was "outstanding".
"Peter Costello has a long history in government and this is a very big statement from the government to appoint someone this experienced. It is his policy and he implemented it as the father of the Future Fund," Brogden said.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) chief executive Pauline Vamos also welcomed Costello's appointment.
"I think it's a great thing, the reason being is that Costello has been key in looking after the Australian economy but also in keeping track of the world economy," Vamos said.
"The health of the economy and investing is very closely linked and I treat the Future Fund very much like a sovereign fund."
According to Vamos, Costello's appointment had important implications for the industry because super trustees would be looking at the way the Future Fund approaches investments.
"So I would look for transparency - how much they are paying for their investments and what the returns are," she said.
Online publication Crikey has questioned whether Costello was the best man for the job due to his lack of expertise in funds management. However, Costello does hold some fairly strong opinions about Australia's super system.
At a recent superannuation industry conference held in Melbourne, Costello expressed concerns with the "constant tinkering" that was coming out of the Henry and Cooper reviews and disagreed with some of the changes made in this year's budget.
"This year's budget is whittling away changes I made in 2007. Cutting the co-contribution rate was designed to raise $2.8 billion. This is despite the government putting forward a fiscal stimulus package of $100 billion," he said.
"If we're not careful, super will become the plaything of changed tax arrangements."
Costello will begin his tenure in December and will replace John Paterson. He will help manage more than $64 million worth of assets.
