Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Does the minister recall the Prime Minister saying in November 2002, when the government was considering the full sale of Telstra, that, ‘We’ve got to be satisfied that we sold at a time and a price that would maximise the return to the Australian public’? Wasn’t the Prime Minister justifying the government’s decision to postpone a possible full sale in 2003? Wasn’t the price of Telstra shares at the time $4.50? If, in 2002, the Prime Minister was not satisfied that $4.50 a share was a good return to the Australian public, why should we now be rushing into a fire sale of shares at $3.60?