Michael Costa
From Freepedia
For the Italian-English conductor, see Michael Costa (conductor)
Michael Costa (born 15 July 1956) is an Australian politician. He currently represents the Australian Labor Party in the New South Wales Legislative Council.
Costa was born in Newcastle to Greek-Cypriot migrants who came ton Australia in the 1950s. During the 1970s Costa was an active Trotskyist during his later High School years and whilst studying at the University of Wollongong.
In 1979 Costa dropped out of politics and began work as a Rigger at the Garden Island naval dockyard. It was there where he was fisrst involved with the Australian labour movement becoming a Delegate for the Federated Ironworkers' Association (now Australian Workers' Union). During this period he also studied during the night at Sydney University.
In 1983 Costa started work as a train driver and became active in the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginees AFLUE (now the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. At the time the AFLUE had a militant leadership who began a series of strikes over petty differences with the Australian Railways Union. This led to Costa running against the incumbent leadership of the union in the AFLUE's elections which Costa won convincingly.
In 1989 Costa was elected as an Organiser with the Labor Council of New South Wales. In 1998 he was elected as Secretary of the Labor Council.
He shifted to a political career in 2001, when he was elected to the Legislative Council, and was immediately made Minister for Police. His term was marked by clashes with Police Commissioner Peter Ryan - who acrimoniously quit soon after, as well as with the police union.
In April 2003, Costa was promoted by Premier Bob Carr, and was appointed Minister for Transport Services, Minister for the Hunter, Minister Assisting the Minister for Natural Resources and Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development. His term as Transport Minister was to be more controversial again, as he presided over a public transport system with chronic problems, trains often running late and decreasing services. Furthermore, his closure of several rail lines, most notably the Murwillumbah line and the end of the Newcastle line earned him the derogatory nickname of "Dr. Beeching the 2nd" among some of the rail community.
Though Costa was popular within the party hierarchy, by 2004, he was widely unpopular among both the general public and sections of the party membership. Public transport was also emerging as a crucial issue for the election due to be held in 2007. When Treasurer Michael Egan abruptly resigned in January 2005, Premier Carr took the opportunity for a major reshuffle. Costa had still been tipped as a potential replacement for Egan, and was open about his ambition for the position. However, Costa was subsequently shifted sideways to the portfolios of Roads, Ports and Economic Reform and replaced with popular Police Minister John Watkins. This was widely seen as a direct response to his handling of the public transport crisis, which was described by multiple journalists as "abrasive". However, some journalists also speculated that the Economic Reform portfolio was a sign that Costa could still become Treasurer in the future.
