Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Does the minister recall saying yesterday that Telstra’s ‘dividend policy is entirely a matter for the board’? Given this claim, can the minister explain the numerous recent news reports of the government demanding that Telstra maintain dividend payments at forecast levels for T3? Doesn’t the government’s majority stake in Telstra give it the power to appoint and sack board members? Is it also true that the government has coerced the board to keep Telstra dividends at forecast levels to prop up the price for the sale of T3? Won’t Telstra again be forced to borrow to pay these inflated dividends? In light of this, how can the minister possibly suggest that the government played no part in Telstra committing to pay dividends that the financial experts at Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s describe as unsustainable?