Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

This is the most pathetic beat-up by the Labor Party imaginable. The Labor Party do not agree with selling this business at all—and now they are lecturing us about probity. This is a ridiculous beat-up. The government has made it clear, and I have made it clear, that there will be an entitlement for existing Telstra shareholders. I have made it clear that we will not be going into any detail as to what that entitlement will be. I cannot help financial journalists and others in the media speculating about what that entitlement might be. There has been no direction or instruction from me or anyone else to encourage any speculation on that. I am not going to listen to these ridiculous beat-ups from the Labor Party about this sale process.