Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Does the minister recall saying on the Sunday program that the government was ‘contemplating some form of entitlement for existing Telstra shareholders’? As a result of the minister’s comments, haven’t all major newspapers carried reports to say that existing Telstra shareholders would get a discount on T3 shares? Can the minister now confirm that the government will offer a discount to existing shareholders? Or, if that is not the case, has the minister done anything to correct the misleading media reports? Is the minister aware that stockbroker Mr Ivor Ries has expressed his dismay about the minister’s comments and the media reports, saying that they created ‘chronic uncertainty’ for Telstra and led to the shares trading ‘in an information vacuum’? Is it not the case that the government’s incompetent and panicked announcement of T3 has created ‘chronic uncertainty’ and led to uninformed trading in Telstra shares?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I first reject the premise that this is an incompetent handling of T3; this has been a most professional approach to the handling of T3. Senator Wong says that, but we have approached this extraordinarily professionally. There has been some two years preparation for this.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senators on my left are well aware of the standing orders.

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

We are not allowed to read the newspaper?

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Exhaustive and professional care has been taken in our approach to this very important further disposal of shares in Australia’s biggest telecommunications company, Telstra. It is being professionally handled both by the officers in my department and by the joint project coordinators—three extremely professional global investment banks that are handling this in an extremely professional manner.

As to the specific question, which related to remarks I made in an interview on the Sunday program, I did indeed state in that interview that, as part of the offer structure for T3, the government was contemplating some form of entitlement with respect to existing Telstra shareholders. I did not go into any detail as to that entitlement. I made it clear that details of that entitlement were being considered and would be revealed when the offer structure was announced. It was critical that we made the announcement as to T3 at the time we did so that the logistics for a very substantial offer of this kind—it will be the biggest offer since 1999—could be prepared. I indicated then that the offer itself would occur in October-November and that at that stage we would give details of the offer.

The only items identified by us were that there would be some form of entitlement for existing Telstra shareholders and that, as in T2, there would be an instalment procedure adopted, with the full dividend payable on the first instalment. I cannot help those in the financial community and others speculating about what the entitlement might be. I am not going to respond to every single speculative remark by every single financial journalist, commentator or stockbroker in this country. My words were clear. My words were to the effect that the government had contemplated some form of entitlement, details of which would be revealed when the offer structure was announced.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate whether anyone in the government was involved in briefing any journalists as to the possibility of a discount? Is the minister aware that the Corporations Law prohibits false or misleading statements to increase or stabilise a share price? Will the minister ask ASIC to investigate whether any breaches of the law were associated with news reports of a T3 shareholder discount? Or, alternatively, was the Australian newspaper correct when it said ‘share market rules for honesty and full disclosure do not appear to extend to the spin surrounding the fire sale of Telstra’?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian is entirely wrong in suggesting that this is a fire sale. This is an appropriate response to the overweight position which the government has in Telstra as a result of the opposition’s utterly irresponsible troglodyte opposition to the further sale of Telstra for the whole of its period in opposition.

In answer to the first part of Senator Wong’s question—no, I am not aware of any direction or instruction or commentary by anyone on the government’s part as to the details of the entitlement, because I specifically said that details of the entitlement will be made clear when the offer structure is announced.