Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, representing Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. I refer to the government’s nomination of a close personal friend of the Prime Minister, Mr Geoff Cousins, to the Telstra board against the wishes of Telstra’s directors. Is the minister aware of numerous media reports describing both the volatility of Mr Cousins during his previous board appointments and the fact that he presided over losses of more than $4 billion as CEO of Optus Vision? Isn’t Stuart Wilson, the CEO of the Australian Shareholders Association, right when he says, ‘Cousins’ nomination virtually guarantees board instability’? Isn’t this just another example of a shambolic appointment, simply demonstrating the government’s economic irresponsibility and incompetence around the Telstra sale process?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Sherry for the question. I am certain that I heard Senator Conroy ask pretty much the same question but, in any event, it is an important question and it is important that the Senate is informed that the Australian government has nominated Mr Geoff Cousins to be a director of the Telstra board. This has been the subject of some media comment over the past couple of weeks, and it has been the subject of some discussion between the government and the board of Telstra. But, as I said in answer to Senator Conroy, the government has a perfect right to nominate somebody to the board, to nominate a board director and to nominate somebody for appointment to the board, because it happens to be the majority shareholder. This might come as a great shock to the Labor Party, who I would have thought pride themselves on knowing something about government—

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator George Campbell interjecting—

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

Senator George Campbell, shouting across the chamber is disorderly.

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and corporate responsibility, but majority shareholders are entitled to nominate somebody for appointment to the board. That is what happened with Mr Cousins. In fact, every member of the board of Telstra has been subject to the government’s at least knowing who they are, their name and their suitability for appointment to the board. So it is nothing unusual that the government, as a majority shareholder, nominates somebody for the board.

As I indicated, Telstra itself on some occasions has also exercised its right as a majority shareholder of other companies to nominate people to take up positions on those boards. I gave the example of the pay-TV company earlier on, when Bruce Akhurst, David Moffatt, Greg Winn and Gerry Sutton were nominated as directors of Foxtel. When Telstra had an interest in another media company some time ago, it nominated a director. I think this is a very long bow that the Labor Party are trying to draw in relation to Mr Cousins’ suitability.

The Labor Party are always very quick to jump in, to make allegations against people without really knowing the facts and without taking the trouble to check the facts. We know that Mr Cousins is an appropriate person, by reason of his background and experience, to take up this position. Because directors are appointed by the board, shareholders have an opportunity at the meeting to have a view as to Mr Cousins’s appropriateness. We have said that, come the AGM, we will be supporting Mr Cousins. We are the majority shareholder and it would be highly unlikely if Mr Cousins were not elected as a director of the board at the next AGM. It is, I think, critical to say that Mr Cousins has a background and qualifications in relation to telecommunications matters and in relation to business matters. It does not seem, by reason of his background and qualifications, that anyone could fairly criticise Mr Cousin’s suitability to take up a position as director. We know that the Labor Party has always opposed pretty much anything this government has wanted to do with Telstra. They opposed T1 and T2 and they certainly do not like the fact that T3 is now a reality.

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Why did the minister not make any attempt to explain why Mr Cousins is going to be appointed, when he lost $4 billion at Optus? That is on the public record. Is the Australian Foundation Investment Company’s managing director, Mr Barker, right when he says that ultimately from an investor’s point of view we want to know that the board is going to function after the sell-down? Does the government seriously believe that Telstra board members will be able to work with Mr Cousins, a man they view to be a government spy? Will the nomination of Mr Cousins be a government endorsed poison pill that will sabotage the smooth operation of the Telstra board for years to come?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is interesting that Senator Sherry seems to have attributed to himself the knowledge of exactly what the board thinks about Mr Cousins and about this process. It is not the case that this government has any concerns, as the majority shareholder, with the appointment of Mr Cousins. The government will be supporting Mr Cousins for the reasons we have outlined in the prospectus. The fact that the government might have a different view from Telstra about some matters, including regulatory matters, certainly in no way derogates from Mr Cousins’s suitability. We will be continuing with our nomination and we will be supporting his nomination at the AGM quite irrespective of what Labor thinks.