Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation) Share this | Hansard source

I note Senator Coonan’s attempt to use spin and rhetoric to conceal the facts. Isn’t it actually true that the recent payphone debacle and Telstra’s 1 April home phone price increases are the direct result of the Howard government’s extreme privatisation agenda? Isn’t it also true that the minister was not aware of these skyrocketing prices or these plans to slash services before they were reported in the media? Given that the minister has been completely unable to effectively regulate Telstra or even keep herself informed of its activities, isn’t it true that the past two weeks have left the minister looking like an April fool?