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

My usually efficient office has indeed distributed a very good compendium of questions and answers on this very significant and important government policy to proceed with a further sale of Telstra shares. It covers such subjects as why we are selling; the time, price and size of the offer; sale structure; and corporate issues. It is to give background so that coalition members can inform their constituents of the reasons why the government is proceeding with this sale. It goes to the policy positions, the detail of the offer structure and the reasons why the Labor Party’s position on this issue is so negative. The sad thing about Australian politics is that the Labor Party is now such a party of opposition all they can do is oppose everything that this government puts forward. It is the party that says no to everything. It would not have mattered what we announced in relation to Telstra—they would have opposed it.

In relation to the specific question, I can inform the Senate that the document in fact says:

Legally we are not allowed to give investment advice. The decision to invest will be a matter for potential investors to make at the time of any offer based on the information in the prospectus and after consulting their financial advisers.

So I am perfectly satisfied that the appropriate safeguards are included in this very useful document for coalition members, reminding them of the legal constraints on any so-called spruiking of Telstra stock.