Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Rising to speak on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009, I would like to pick up on Senator Cormann’s comments about trust, communications and the operation of this government. I want Senator Cormann and the good Australian men and women in the gallery to have a look at how this Prime Minister conducts himself when dealing with state premiers. He wants to talk about open, transparent and cooperative federalism but this Prime Minister is so conceited and egotistical that he refuses to engage with the Premier of the State of New South Wales. The body language, the vision, capture it all. This government and Prime Minister are absolutely drunk on power and hubris and no more is that reflected than in this bill.

The Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009 compromises and attacks any number of things which we hold very dear in this country. First and foremost, it attacks property rights. People in Australia have a reasonable expectation. We have a stable and democratic system and we have a common law which protects people so that when they invest in this country, when they purchase shares in public companies, risks will be disclosed appropriately and Australians can rely on a consistent and regular approach to economic policy. Of course, there are going to be variations in this and I have to accept that but investors and consumers can generally make those assessments for themselves. In the case of Telstra, regulatory risks were discussed in the three prospectuses put forward by the coalition government. However, nowhere in the risks which were disclosed was there anything about the structural separation of Telstra.

The Australian people made a reasonable assumption that the Labor Party hated the privatisation of Telstra because they voted against it again and again. It cost the Australian public billions and billions of dollars through the Labor Party’s intransigence in voting against a bill and policies that the government of the time clearly had a mandate to implement. Australia would possibly have no debt today if the Labor Party had allowed the full sale of Telstra much earlier.

Why do I talk about the history of this? Because I still remember that, after the third tranche was sold, the Labor Party, having been steadfastly against it the entire time they were in opposition, walked in here and said, ‘It is now our policy; we agree with the privatisation of Telstra.’ How can we believe them when they are starting to attack the very company which they now agree should have been sold off? A $60 billion apology is what the Labor Party owe the Australian people. This is about principle. I know it is old-fashioned to have some principles in this place but those on the coalition side continue to hold principles. We do not believe that it is appropriate for government to ride roughshod over private industry unnecessarily. We believe that the interests of the 1.4 million Telstra shareholders are of importance. We believe that the 30,000 Telstra employees deserve some certainty in their future.