Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Is the minister aware of the Prime Minister’s statement last Friday that the government does not want to dud existing Telstra shareholders as part of its plans to sell Telstra? Is the minister also aware of comments by leading columnist Terry McCrann that dumping Telstra shares into the Future Fund would be ‘plain dumb, utterly pointless and against the interests of 1.6 million voters otherwise known as Telstra shareholders’? Given the Prime Minister’s stated wish not to dud Telstra shareholders, can the minister explain why he is actively considering a policy that is against the interests of Telstra shareholders? Why is the minister intent on making Telstra shareholders pay for his incompetent management of the sale process? Haven’t the shareholders already suffered enough?