The scandal and crime of Telstra privatisation The following Editorial was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, November 18th, 1998. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** When Frank Blount was first appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of Telstra by the Labor Government, it was a clear indication that the Government had its sights set on the privatisation of this icon of Australian public ownership. This was also signalled when the name of Telecom was changed to Telstra and a corporate structure adopted. Blount was formerly an executive of IT&T, the American telecommunications giant and as such, is a staunch advocate of private ownership. IT&T has been named as a major backer of the Pinochet military fascist coup in Chile in 1975. With the objective of full privatisation of Telstra being actively pursued by the Howard Government, Blount, in a speech to the Canberra Press Club came out openly for privatisation and took it upon himself to "warn" the Australian Parliament. "It's natural that people [meaning Parliament] like to meddle. But the fact is, we cannot be in that ballgame long term", declared Blount. Here is an advocate of private enterprise standing over and threatening the elected Parliament of Australia, such is the arrogance of private enterprise today. He does not have to threaten the Howard Government, however, because it is already committed. Blount's message is for the Senate majority which is opposed to the full privatisation of Telstra. As far as Blount is concerned the social responsibilities of a company are of no importance compared to the profit interests of shareholders of which Blount is certain to be among the big stakeholders. When asked whether he was concerned that the government was sacrificing shareholder value in the interests of its social program (as though the Howard government has any serious social program) Blount replied: "This is the heart of the dilemma we face as directors of the company." At the moment the majority shareholder in Telstra is the government and it should represent the interests of the people of Australia. But Blount is not thinking about the majority shareholder or the people: "I believe it will be incumbent on the directors to deal openly and candidly with the government to make sure they understand that we cannot continue to give up shareholder value just to achieve competition policy ... the industry may have to give up something", says Blount. Who's "shareholder value"? It is obvious that Blount has in mind the private shareholders. And what is that "something" that should be given up? Cross subsidisation for a start. Blount said that Telstra's growth potential could be impeded if it was required to continue to provide cross subsidies at the expense of sensible competition outcomes. Blount is pressing his demands now because the question of the full privatisation of Telstra is to be decided in the next few months. By opting for full privatisation the Howard Government has turned its back on support for Telstra continuing to have social responsibilities. Although the government has made fulsome promises to look after the communication needs of country subscribers and to maintain a ban on timed local calls, these will go out the window if and when Telstra becomes privately owned. The government will cease to have any power to instruct the Board of Telstra. The ability for any government to "interfere" with the decisions of the Board will come to an end. Privatisation is all about the big corporations seizing public property that has been built up over generations by use of taxpayers' money and the support of the progressive community. Blount is retiring as the CEO of Telstra and one can only say, good riddance, although his successor will almost certainly come from the same stable of private enterprise advocates. He has done what he intended to do when first appointed -- with the connivance of successive governments. It is not yet too late to stop this scandal and crime from being perpetrated. It is to be hoped that a continuing public outcry and the votes of the Labor Party, Democrat, Green and independent Senators will thwart this theft of what should remain fully in public hands. The Guardian | Phone: (02) 9212 6855 65 Campbell Street, | Fax: (02) 9281 5795 Surry Hills. 2010 | Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sydney. Australia. Website: http://peg.apc.org/~guardian
