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

He has been on the government’s payroll for the last 10 years, Senator McGauran. Even worse, the T3 prospectus clearly advises prospective investors that Telstra’s promised 2007 dividend of 28c per share is subject to the successful implementation of Telstra’s transformation plan. It was not that long ago that the Minister for Finance and Administration, Senator Minchin, was distributing a briefing document to coalition MPs—perhaps Senator McGauran might like to share it with us—instructing them to talk up the juicy Telstra dividends. Now the government is irresponsibly putting these dividends at risk through the arrogant and petulant nomination for the Telstra board of a Howard government stooge who lost $4 billion the last time he had anything to do with a telco.

But Telstra’s biggest fear with respect to the nomination of Mr Cousins to the Telstra board is not his combative nature but his divided loyalties. This is a man whom the Prime Minister’s chief of staff identifies as one of the Prime Minister’s few personal sounding boards—someone he picks up the phone to call when he needs advice.