Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Can the minister confirm that she has appointed Clayton Utz and Mr Alan Sullivan QC to represent her in her legal stoush with Telstra about the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program? Can the minister indicate if she will retain the same legal team for her latest legal fight with Telstra regarding CDMA licence conditions? Will the minister now inform the Australian people how much of their money she is spending on these two legal proceedings and what the potential cost would be of any findings against her?

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

Thank you to Senator Lundy for finally screwing up the courage to ask a question in this place—and not even in her shadow portfolio area.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Question time will not continue until we have order. Senator Coonan has not finished her answer yet.

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

Thank you, Mr President. I could not quite hear all of Senator Lundy’s question. My understanding is that she asked—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

I still cannot hear, Mr President; I am sorry.

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

Thank you, Mr President. My understanding of Senator Lundy’s question is: she asked the name of counsel who have been retained on my behalf as respondent to Telstra’s application for preliminary discovery. It is not actually an action that has materialised, but it is an application for preliminary discovery. I can tell her that Alan Sullivan QC is senior counsel; I cannot confirm junior counsel. With respect to any other counsel that may be retained, I am not in a position to inform the Senate. What I would say—

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How much is this going to cost?

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Carr!

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

Thank you, Mr President. This matter is where the government is a respondent to actions brought by Telstra. Of course, it is important under the circumstances that the government—who have very good and defensible answers to Telstra’s claims—should be in a position to defend the proceedings. I am sorry; I cannot hear, Mr President.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It is your question time.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr President. The minister seems to complain that she cannot hear herself talking. I can hear her perfectly well. I do not see why the opportunity to ask questions in the Senate is held up because the minister keeps sitting down because she cannot hear herself.

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! If the minister, in answering the question, cannot hear herself think because of the interjections, she is entitled to wait until the interjections stop.

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

Thank you, Mr President. I can understand that the Labor Party are not interested in the answer, but the really important thing here is that where proceedings are foreshadowed it is impossible to talk about time limits. It is certainly impossible to answer in a definitive way any of the other questions that have been posed by Senator Lundy. The proceedings in respect of the first action commenced by Telstra are being defended. That is a case that has not been heard yet.

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Isn’t one of the minister’s costly legal disputes with Telstra a result of her incompetent and scandalous handling of the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program? Didn’t the Auditor-General agree that the minister changed the goalposts—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr President. There is no doubt that the assertion of ‘scandalous’ against a minister is a reflection and should be withdrawn.

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lundy, I think that is bordering on unparliamentary; perhaps you could choose your language more carefully.

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will continue with my question. Didn’t the Auditor-General agree that the minister changed the goalposts in the middle of the tender process, before awarding OPEL nearly $1 billion of taxpayers’ money? Why should taxpayers have to foot the legal bill for the minister’s incompetence?

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

That does not arise out of the primary question and I decline to dignify it with an answer.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! When your colleagues are quiet I will call you, Senator Conroy.

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

I rise on a point of order, Mr President. It is quite clear that the question was relevant to the primary question. I ask you to draw the minister’s attention to the actual question and ask her to attempt an answer. It is quite clear that it arose from the first question.

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the minister chooses not to answer, that is her prerogative.