Taskforce, a member of the National Advisory Body on Gambling and a member of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation. Political career Costello was elected Mayor of St Kilda Council in 1993 and became well known for championing the cause of local democracy and for his clashes with the Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett. Kennett attacked Costello as being un-Victorian for speaking out against the gaming-led recovery of the state and often referred to him as "that leftist cleric". Costello's political career ended when his mayoral position was abolished with the whole St Kilda Council in Kennett's reform and consolidation of local government in 1994. Towards the end of that time, he was approached by the Australian Democrats political party to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate, but decided against it, partly due to the likelihood that this could place him in direct conflict with his brother if Peter became Treasurer. Costello was an elected delegate at the Australian Constitutional Convention in Canberra in February 1998. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was frequently seen in the Australian national media commenting on gambling and other social problems. He also has spoken out in favour of stronger gun control in Australia, acting at times as the co-chairman or spokesman of the National Coalition for Gun Control. World Vision Australia Costello was appointed as CEO of World Vision Australia on 24 November 2003. Having spent much of his career focussing on local and domestic issues, Costello said he relished the opportunity to focus on international issues. In his first full year in the role, Costello became the face of Australia's response to the Boxing Day Tsunami. Costello led fundraising efforts, and World Vision Australia raised over $118 million for relief and rehabilitation programs. During Costello's tenure, the organisation grew from funding 480 projects benefiting 10.4 million people, to more than 800 World Vision development projects benefiting close to 100 million people across the globe including in Australia. After 13 years as CEO, Costello announced that he was stepping aside to become the Chief Advocate for World Vision Australia on 9 May 2016. He remained as Chief Advocate for a further two years before resigning on 7 June 2019, citing the physical and emotional toll of the role over many years. Other roles Costello has since become the Director of Ethical Voice, Executive Director of Micah Australia and a Senior