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

I thank the senator for his question. I think I have already answered the question about whether or not I knew about the salary. The answer is ‘no’. I understand it is a salary package that is very similar to the salary package that Senator Minchin was able to assist Mr John Short with at Telstra. Let us be very clear: it is entirely consistent with Telstra’s package for its government affairs adviser, the former telco adviser to John Howard, the former Prime Minister of Australia. I think the final part of your question was: did I raise my concerns about it? I only found out about it after. As I said, I had no further communications with Mr Quigley on this matter at all, and the first I knew about it was when they had made the appointment in the lead-up to the announcement. (Time expired)