John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am aware of the views of Mr Kirk and Mr Walker and Mr Murdoch and Mr Packer. They have all expressed views on broadband. I certainly share the view that broadband is a very important part of Australia’s infrastructure future. But the issue in debate—I notice the member for Melbourne has moved off the Future Fund—and our quarrel with the Labor Party on this is that the Labor Party intend to raid the Future Fund. That is what they are going to do. They said this fund was not sufficiently locked up. I remind the member for Melbourne that, if Telstra shares are sold by the Future Fund, the money goes into the fund and therefore it is subject to the same restrictions and should be treated in the same way as all the other resources that are in the fund. But there is a very simple and fundamental issue involved here: the Future Fund is designed to relieve future generations from a greater financial burden than would otherwise be the case. That is what it is designed to do.

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