katie tully
ashleey luvs roosters
No she's really 10, but for anybody who has had the displeasure (me) of meeting this guy, it's pretty lol.
The Treasurer, whose demeanour and penchant for expletives are legendary, found himself face to face with a group of firefighters in Wollongong who were protesting against his decision to cap their pay rises at 2.5 per cent and shut fire stations throughout NSW.
Firefighters said Mr Costa put in a vintage performance, growing agitated and losing his temper as he tried to enter the WIN Sports and Entertainment Centre. Six fire engines had blocked the entrance as part of the protest.
"It was his usual bully-boy tactic," said Darin Sullivan, a local firefighter and Fire Brigade Union activist. "He was getting very aggressive, trying to intimidate people."
When Mr Costa insisted that NSW firefighters were the highest paid in the country, Mr Sullivan's daughter, Cate, stepped forward. "Excuse me, sir," she said. "I'm only 10 years old and even I know that is a lie."
Mr Sullivan said Mr Costa then told his daughter: "That was a good line your daddy taught you."
Mr Costa's spokesman, Brad Schmitt, denies Mr Costa sneered at the girl, saying the Treasurer merely said that he too had a daughter. "He explained that he has a three-year-old daughter and the reason for the [wages] policy was because we want to provide schools."
WIN Television footage, however, captured Mr Costa using the phrase "that's a good line".
Mr Schmitt also told the Herald he had seen Mr Sullivan prompting his daughter: "We saw him word up his daughter."
Mr Sullivan laughed at the suggestion, saying his daughter was intelligent enough to ask her own questions.
The Treasurer's office also said firefighters had taken the keys to Mr Costa's car, but quickly added: "We are not alleging theft."
The Fire Brigade Employees Union says NSW firefighters rank fifth, not first, in the country for pay rates.
Mr Costa has built his reputation as a pugnacious politician, routinely taking on political opponents, often within his own party, with what his office has in the past said is "colourful" language.
At the ALP state conference in May he screamed at a room full of union leaders, including the secretary of Unions NSW, John Robertson: "You blokes can get f---ed. You're going to look like dickheads on Monday morning."
A few weeks later, after the Labor MP Geoff Corrigan told a caucus meeting how unpopular the Iemma Government was in the electorate, he received a call from Mr Costa, who reportedly told him: "I just want to tell you that you're f---ed, you're totally and utterly f---ed."
A spokesman for the Premier would not comment on why the former education minister, John Della Bosca, was publicly reprimanded for swearing at a photographer who staked out his mother's home, while Mr Costa's behaviour was yet to earn the same reprimand.
After Mr Costa ended his encounter with the firefighters, they turned their high-pressure hoses on the outside of the stadium. Mr Sullivan said: "We wanted to wash away the stain of Michael Costa's presence."