Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers given by Senator Minchin on the subject of Telstra. It seems that this government’s mismanagement of Telstra knows no ends. Let us cast our minds back to last year, when we saw the government use its numbers in this place to force the Telstra sale legislation through the Senate. At about that time last year, the government deliberately withheld from minority shareholders the contents of a report detailing that the company had been borrowing from its reserves to pay dividends and that services in regional Australia were below standard. We saw the government’s contempt for the committee system and its contempt for mum and dad shareholders when it allowed the committee looking into the sale only one day—one day—to examine the legislation.

Now we are seeing it yet again. This out-of-touch government has embarked on a $20 million dollar advertising campaign—utilising taxpayer funds of course—to promote the T3 float. With a quick flick through the channels on television last night, Australians everywhere would have been bombarded by the flashy ad campaign sugar-coating the sale. According to an unnamed media buyer, this massive spend during Australia’s top-rating television shows was to ensure that ‘everyone from the Prime Minister down will be watching’.

More than $45 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent by this government on the three Telstra floats. That is money that could have been much better spent. A novel idea would have been to ensure that Australian families have access to high-speed broadband—or maybe the government could have improved services in regional areas.

Perhaps the reason this government feels so compelled to throw so much money at this float is that it knows just how much hurt the Prime Minister’s mismanagement of Telstra has caused. After the recent negative publicity surrounding Telstra and the government’s own actions, the Prime Minister is keen to entice Australian investors to jump on board again. Or maybe it is just that the government got a nice taste of the advertising world with its foray into propaganda with Work Choices. More than $250 million in advertising was included in the 2006 budget—that is on top of the $1 billion this government has already managed to spend during its term in office. This arrogant government should implement the Auditor-General’s advertising guidelines, which were adopted by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. Instead, the Prime Minister is using taxpayer funds to convince investors to take a punt on T3, while at the same time undermining the board and management.

The Telstra board’s opposition to the government’s nomination of Mr Geoff Cousins as a director is clearly spelt out in the T3 prospectus. This is the same government that wants to sell off Telstra. Yet it seems that Mr Howard does not wish to relinquish control—as is evident in his attempt to appoint a government spy to the Telstra board.

Yesterday we saw the release of the T3 prospectus delayed because the government was using its bullying tactics on the Telstra board in dealing with the contents of the prospectus. The Prime Minister is continuing to put his own political agendas ahead of the interests of the Australian public and Telstra’s shareholders. They deserve to be told the truth. We all remember when Mr Howard told Australians that Telstra was a great buy at $7.40. Australians do not want any more political spin. They do not want any more of their money thrown away in trying to sell Telstra—which supposedly the Australian government owns on their behalf—back to them.

Australians want only to see that Telstra is being managed and run properly—that communications services throughout the country are being improved, that high-speed broadband for all Australians will become a reality. And they want it sooner rather than later. If all this were already the case, the government would not have to pour such obscene amounts of money into advertising T3. That money could be used, as I said, to reinforce and improve services in regional Australia. Australians would be able to see T3 for the investment it is, without all the political spin that this government has come to rely on in an attempt to undo the damage of its mismanagement of the Telstra sale.

Question agreed to.