Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

and corporate responsibility, but majority shareholders are entitled to nominate somebody for appointment to the board. That is what happened with Mr Cousins. In fact, every member of the board of Telstra has been subject to the government’s at least knowing who they are, their name and their suitability for appointment to the board. So it is nothing unusual that the government, as a majority shareholder, nominates somebody for the board.

As I indicated, Telstra itself on some occasions has also exercised its right as a majority shareholder of other companies to nominate people to take up positions on those boards. I gave the example of the pay-TV company earlier on, when Bruce Akhurst, David Moffatt, Greg Winn and Gerry Sutton were nominated as directors of Foxtel. When Telstra had an interest in another media company some time ago, it nominated a director. I think this is a very long bow that the Labor Party are trying to draw in relation to Mr Cousins’ suitability.

The Labor Party are always very quick to jump in, to make allegations against people without really knowing the facts and without taking the trouble to check the facts. We know that Mr Cousins is an appropriate person, by reason of his background and experience, to take up this position. Because directors are appointed by the board, shareholders have an opportunity at the meeting to have a view as to Mr Cousins’s appropriateness. We have said that, come the AGM, we will be supporting Mr Cousins. We are the majority shareholder and it would be highly unlikely if Mr Cousins were not elected as a director of the board at the next AGM. It is, I think, critical to say that Mr Cousins has a background and qualifications in relation to telecommunications matters and in relation to business matters. It does not seem, by reason of his background and qualifications, that anyone could fairly criticise Mr Cousin’s suitability to take up a position as director. We know that the Labor Party has always opposed pretty much anything this government has wanted to do with Telstra. They opposed T1 and T2 and they certainly do not like the fact that T3 is now a reality.