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

Mr Arthur Sinodinos. This confidant of the Prime Minister will be sitting in on Telstra’s board meetings discussing the impact on the company’s prospects of government actions and the best way to protect shareholders from the impacts of the Howard government’s interferences.

The T3 prospectus makes the Telstra board’s view of the appropriateness of the nomination of Mr Cousins perfectly clear. It states:

Telstra believes that if there is a risk Mr Cousins cannot be considered an independent director that this could prove disruptive to the smooth and effective functioning of the Board.

And that:

The Board is concerned that there is a risk that Mr Cousins’ previous consulting role with the Government could interfere with his capacity to be considered an independent director.

What they are saying is that Mr Cousins will act as a government spy or, even worse, a government stooge on the Telstra board. Does anyone seriously believe that a personal confidant of the Prime Minister for over 20 years will not report back to the Prime Minister on the goings-on on the Telstra board? Does anyone seriously believe this will not have a destabilising influence on the company?

It was not that long ago that the Chairman of Telstra, Mr Bob Mansfield, was forced to resign from the Telstra board as a result of some conflicts between directors. You may not remember, Senator McGauran, but Mr Mansfield was forced off the board because he went and consulted the Prime Minister about a merger proposal, a purchasing proposal, to buy Fairfax. Remember that? The Chairman of Telstra, another close personal mate of the Prime Minister, decided that the first place he should go and discuss Telstra buying Fairfax was with the Prime Minister, not with the other board members. So do not try and pretend that: ‘Oh, well, the Prime Minister would never seek to exert influence. The Prime Minister’s mates do not go and talk to him behind closed doors.’ They booted, they punted Mansfield, on the basis that he was consulting with the Prime Minister—