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

The prospectus very clearly states that the government has confidence in the board and that Mr Cousins will be nominated at the board meeting. I doubt very much whether Mr Cousins will be exterminated because the government supports him. We are a 51 per cent shareholder. The only dalek, the only relic of the past, is the Labor Party, which does not have the ticker to actually get on with privatising Telstra and modernising telecommunications. The Labor Party have nowhere to go but just criticise and try some populist reflex action. Mr Beazley of course did not have the ticker last time; he has not got the ticker now. This government has the ticker to get on with the job and finish it.

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.