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

Exhaustive and professional care has been taken in our approach to this very important further disposal of shares in Australia’s biggest telecommunications company, Telstra. It is being professionally handled both by the officers in my department and by the joint project coordinators—three extremely professional global investment banks that are handling this in an extremely professional manner.

As to the specific question, which related to remarks I made in an interview on the Sunday program, I did indeed state in that interview that, as part of the offer structure for T3, the government was contemplating some form of entitlement with respect to existing Telstra shareholders. I did not go into any detail as to that entitlement. I made it clear that details of that entitlement were being considered and would be revealed when the offer structure was announced. It was critical that we made the announcement as to T3 at the time we did so that the logistics for a very substantial offer of this kind—it will be the biggest offer since 1999—could be prepared. I indicated then that the offer itself would occur in October-November and that at that stage we would give details of the offer.

The only items identified by us were that there would be some form of entitlement for existing Telstra shareholders and that, as in T2, there would be an instalment procedure adopted, with the full dividend payable on the first instalment. I cannot help those in the financial community and others speculating about what the entitlement might be. I am not going to respond to every single speculative remark by every single financial journalist, commentator or stockbroker in this country. My words were clear. My words were to the effect that the government had contemplated some form of entitlement, details of which would be revealed when the offer structure was announced.