Peter Howard Costello AC (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the Treasurer in the Australian government from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Treasurer in Australian history. Costello was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1990 to 2009, representing the Division of Higgins. He also served as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 2007.

On 18 September 2008, Costello was appointed to the World Bank's new Independent Advisory Board (IAB) to provide advice on anti-corruption measures.

Costello was born in Melbourne into a middle class family of practising Christians. He was the second of three children: his elder brother, Tim Costello, is a prominent Baptist minister and current CEO of World Vision Australia. Costello was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School and attended Melbourne's Monash University, where he graduated in arts and law.

During the 1980s, Costello was a solicitor at the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, then became a barrister and represented employers in some of Australia's best known industrial relations disputes.

Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954) is the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996 and since 1998, representing the Division of Liley, Queensland. Following Labor's win at the 2007 election, he became Treasurer of Australia (finance minister) in the First Rudd Ministry.

On 24 June 2010, Swan was elected unopposed as the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, and became the Deputy Prime Minister when Julia Gillard was sworn in as the Prime Minister later that day, while remaining Treasurer.

Swan was born and educated in Nambour, Queensland. He attended Nambour State High School, graduating in 1972.Kevin Rudd attended the same school at the same time, although the two did not know each other. Swan won a Commonwealth scholarship to study public administration at the University of Queensland, becoming a lecturer in the Department of Management at the Queensland Institute of Technology (now the Queensland University of Technology) before entering politics.^{[dead link]}

Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is a former Australian politician who served as the 24th Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996.

Keating was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1969 election as the Labor member for Blaxland in New South Wales. He came to prominence as the reformist Treasurer of the government of Bob Hawke, which came to power at the 1983 election. In 1991, Keating defeated Hawke for the Labor leadership in a partyroom ballot and became prime minister. He went on to lead Labor to a record fifth consecutive victory at the 1993 election against the Liberal-National coalition led by John Hewson. Many had considered this election unwinnable for Labor due to poor polls for the 10-year-incumbent federal Labor government, and the effects of the early 1990s recession on Australia. Keating Labor lost the subsequent 1996 election to the Liberal/National Coalition led by John Howard.

Keating grew up in Bankstown, a working-class suburb of Sydney. He was one of four children of Matthew Keating, a boilermaker and trade-union representative of Irish Catholic descent, and his wife, Minnie. Keating was educated at Catholic schools; he was the first practising Catholic Labor prime minister since James Scullin left office in 1932. Leaving De La Salle College Bankstown (now LaSalle Catholic College) at 15, Keating decided not to pursue higher education, and worked as a clerk at the Electricity Commission of New South Wales and then as a trade union research assistant. He joined the Labor Party as soon as he was eligible. In 1966, he became president of the ALP’s Youth Council. In the 1960s Keating managed ‘The Ramrods’ rock band.