Grech takes aim at Labor, Turnbull

17 Aug 2012, 12:51 pm   -   Source: AAP

Disgraced former Treasury official Godwin Grech says governor-general John Howard would perfectly complement prime minister Tony Abbott.

Disgraced former Treasury official Godwin Grech has made a surprise public foray, advocating a Tony Abbott government coupled with a vice-regal role for John Howard.

That combination would provide Australians with a world-class leadership team, he says.

Mr Grech, who left the Treasury after being embroiled in a forged email scandal that embarrassed then federal Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull in 2009, spent 20 years serving successive Labor and coalition governments.

But it's clear he has no time for the Rudd-Gillard governments or Mr Turnbull.

Writing in The Spectator Australia, Mr Grech says Australian governance has deteriorated markedly since the election of the Labor government in November 2007.

Chronic leadership instability, a preoccupation with spin, loss of the policy agenda to trade unions and the Greens, incompetence, a "survive at any cost" mentality and a blatantly pro-ALP bureaucracy draping itself in the sacred cloak of Westminster have produced some of the most appalling public policy and administration since Federation, he said.

"The good news is there is reason to hope that the wounds will be cauterised as the Rudd-Gillard government meets its end at the ballot box within 12 months," Mr Grech wrote.

At a time of profound structural change, a nation which neglected any of its top-line leadership prospects was failing its people, he said.

"By any objective measure, Howard would make a first-class head of state who would be warmly embraced by Buckingham Palace," Mr Grech wrote.

"He would perfectly complement Tony Abbott, providing Australians with a world-class leadership team."

As for Mr Turnbull, Grech wrote: "(He) will continue to be the target of faux love from the Left as attempts are made to destabilise the coalition.

"The reasons for his leadership failure are well documented, even if some elements have been deliberately exaggerated to disguise various flaws."

Mr Turnbull wouldn't be drawn on Mr Grech's comments.

"I wouldn't welcome endorsement from Godwin," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

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