Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Does the minister recall telling the Senate yesterday that he was ‘not aware of any direction or instruction or commentary’ on behalf of the government about the detail of the entitlement offer to existing Telstra shareholders? Is the minister aware of reports in today’s Financial Review that an adviser on the sale told the newspaper on 27 August that a discount for shareholders was ‘in the mix’ but later told the media to play down this suggestion? As the minister responsible for the sale, isn’t the minister also responsible for the actions of the T3 sale team? Can the minister now explain what action he has taken to identify and sack this member of the government’s T3 sale team for deliberately misleading the market? Will the minister also refer the matter to ASIC for investigation to ensure the integrity of the T3 sale offer?