Beazley's plan to control Telstra Steve Lewis and Jason Koutsoukis
15/02/2001
The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Kim Beazley, yesterday signalled that Labor would take a more interventionist approach to Telstra Corp, expecting the national carrier to play a "nation-building role" and deliver high-speed communications to regional Australia.
Mr Beazley's provocative remarks came as a row erupted within the Coalition parties over the future of Telstra, threatening to further destabilise its re-election prospects.
The brawl was prompted by a report yesterday in The Australian Financial Review in which the Minister for Communications, Senator Richard Alston, said the Government was determined to proceed with full privatisation.
The remarks ignited a furore in Coalition ranks on the eve of elections in Queensland, where services to the bush are a key issue. The National Party leader, Mr John Anderson, was at loggerheads with Senator Alston.
"We have a policy position and that position is that unless the identified needs in rural and regional areas are met, Telstra would not be further privatised," Mr Anderson said.
The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, later sought to play down the prospects of an early sale of Telstra until the issue of services to the bush was worked out.
Campaigning in northern NSW yesterday, Mr Beazley signalled that a Labor Government would expect Telstra to move away from a narrow commercial focus in order to meet the ALP strategy for regional Australia.
"We regard Telstra as having a nation-building task as well as providing a commercial opportunity for those who happen to be Telstra shareholders," he said.
"We know that if Telstra is not in public ownership, the chances of there being any influence directing Telstra to areas of need like this is going to disappear altogether."
However, Mr Beazley's stance is contrary to the wishes of the Telstra board.
It is pro-privatisation, arguing that the Government's shareholding is hurting its ability to compete, raise capital and expand internationally. The chairman of Telstra, Mr Bob Mansfield, was unavailable for comment last night.
Mr Beazley said Telstra's success in winning a $150 million tender to extend untimed local calls to remote areas showed that it was the best telecommunications carrier to ensure that regional areas did not fall further behind the cities.
He dismissed concerns that a future Labor administration would clash head-on with the Telstra board, which publicly backs full privatisation of the telco.
Mr Beazley said Labor would "expect the [Telstra] board to respect the views of the majority shareholder".
In turn, Labor would "always be careful of interests of shareholders".
Fund managers last night again expressed concern about the politicising of Telstra.
The head of Australian equities at Perpetual Investments, Mr Peter Morgan, said it was a year when "political consequences are playing a part".
"Obviously Beazley's thoughts have not helped, but the bigger impact on Telstra stock yesterday was the flop in the Orange float and weakness in global telcos generally".
The Federal Opposition is working on a major communications blueprint for regional Australia to be released in the election lead-up.
This is likely to include plans to use part of the on-going dividend from the Government's 50.1 per cent shareholding to fund certain communications projects.
Senator Alston appeared on Channel Nine's Today show yesterday where he endorsed proceeding quickly down the path towards full privatisation.
But Senator Alston appeared to back away from his strong stance later, telling the ABC's AM program that: "We've made it crystal clear that we won't go any further down that track until we're satisfied about the adequacy of telecommunication services throughout Australia, and I think that's a very responsible attitude."
Senator Alston's comments provoked strong criticism from National Party backbenchers who remain unhappy with the level of improvement in bush services.
The NSW National Party member for New England, Mr Stuart St Clair, said Senator Alston's comments were unhelpful and unwelcome.
"I think Senator Alston is in his own world with the fairies at the bottom of the garden."
Mr Howard echoed remarks by Mr Anderson, saying full privatisation would not proceed until services to the bush had improved.
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This story was found at: afr.com |
