Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

The article is a total fabrication. The only accurate thing about the article is the tangled mess you appear to be in, in the pictures. We think that the issues around spectrum allocation are not issues that should be dealt with in this bill. We think it was wrong for the government to try to use them as a gun at the head of Telstra. We obviously have had that debate already. We attempted to remove that and sadly were unsuccessful. I know that Senator Xenophon comes to these amendments with good intentions, and I think the discussion that we have just had in the chamber will at least add to some of the process. We hope the government adopts a transparent, engaged and consultative process with industry, consumer representatives and others to ensure that this spectrum allocation is done in a way that maximises competition. We note we have had strong representations from the mobile telecommunications industry. Now the minister even has the clerks reading his puff piece. He is very proud. Have you got it framed already, Stephen?