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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

What a proud day for the government! What a day for Senator Coonan! We have had the Telstra prospectus debacle all day. All weekend we were told: ‘10 o’clock on Monday, we will have the T3 prospectus, after we’ve finished bullying and intimidating the Telstra board to give in so that they will have a whitewash in the prospectus.’ What a proud day it must be! The government’s nomination of Mr Cousins is just the latest, as I said, in a series of government acts of bullying and intimidation aimed at the Telstra board and its management. We have seen the government demanding, cajoling and threatening in order to get the Telstra board to agree to a two-year dividend forecast—something that both Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s said was unsustainable. Can you imagine if a Labor government had tried to bully a board into delivering an unsustainable dividend. The coalition—the great defenders of the free market—would be going out of their tree. But it did not just stop there.

We then saw John Howard try to demand, first, the sacking of Telstra executives. And then, when the government were not able to achieve the sackings, they demanded they be gagged. It was not good enough that they tried to sack them; they then tried to gag them. Then we had this latest debacle: they have leant on the board for the last week demanding that they have a whitewash in the prospectus. Do not worry about the corporate law in this country. Do not worry that a prospectus is a serious document that must outline the board’s concerns about risks that it faces. The Prime Minister, John Howard, wanted to gag the board’s statements. The government said, ‘You will not say what you think about the nomination of Mr Cousins. You will not say what you think about the government’s policies and, just in case you do not get the message, understand that we will vote against your existing directors.’ What an act of political thuggery—standing the board up and saying, ‘Either you deliver what we want, you go out there and mislead the Australian public in this prospectus, or we will vote your directors out of a job.’

To make matters worse, the government has engaged in this campaign at the same time as trying to convince the Australian public to buy into Telstra. This is economic incompetence writ large. The government is cutting off its nose to spite its face. The government is letting its personal vindictiveness undermine the Telstra sale. This is gross economic incompetence.

We have seen the attack dogs on the other side—Senator Ronaldson out there in estimates and a whole list of government members and senators—attacking the Telstra management because it has dared to tell the truth about the state of the Telstra network. It has opened the door and said, ‘The emperor has no clothes. The Prime Minister had no clothes when he claimed just 12 months ago that everything was up to scratch.’ Do we all remember that? John Howard has walked the country for the last 10 years saying, ‘Telstra services are up to scratch.’ But Mr Trujillo and the Telstra board have said, ‘That’s not true.’

The minister has yet again shown sheer vindictiveness and incompetence. In question time the minister stated that Mr Cousins would have a lot to offer during the Telstra float. There is only one problem. That statement, of course, completely ignores the fact that Mr Cousins will not be appointed to the Telstra board until after the AGM on 14 November 2006—five days after the float closes. So we see this minister yet again demonstrating her inability to master her own portfolio. If the government’s cunning plan was to install Mr Cousins on the Telstra board to assist with the float, it needs a new desk calendar—or Senator Coonan needs to get a new job.

Let us be clear. Mr Cousins is a colourful character. Let me read to you a comment from Mr Grahame Lynch from Communications Day, a journalist in this area. (Time expired)