❓ WA Minister Bowler expresses strong skepticism about the security of WA's share of the federal Telstra package, questioning its adequacy and potential allocation, accusing the federal government of broken promises and eastern states bias.
AnsweredQoN 404Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
What security is there for Western Australia in the national $3 billion Telstra package as proposed by the Prime Minister? Mr J.J.M. BOWLER
AnswerView source ↗
I personally believe there is no security. Even members of the National Party, who negotiated this $3 billion deal - I think it is $3.2 billion - are also starting to get nervous. They are now asking for a “no-lose guarantee”, because they are starting to remember the core, or non-core, promises made by John Howard. The Nationals are getting nervous even at this early stage, and why should they not? First, it was suggested that we would need $5 billion to do the job; then an offer of $2 billion was made. The government then suggested that it would meet them halfway with an offer of $3.2 billion. Will that be enough to do the job? I do not know. It may even be too much. I doubt it, particularly as we learnt last week that not only do we have a big problem in regional Western Australia, where the member comes from, but also in Perth. I was asked some time ago how much Western Australia could expect to get of the $3 billion. As a rule of thumb, as Western Australia represents one-third of the land mass, I said that it should get one-third. However, that will only look after regional Western Australia. What about Perth? Perth is the worst off of the capital cities in Australia. Therefore, I believe that Western Australia should get more than one-third. However, as even the federal National Party members are starting to ask, will this money become available? We must first ask what happened to the money from T1 and T2 share offers? Does anyone know where it went? The same will apply to this $3 billion. It will enter the black hole of the John Howard re-election fund. The fact of the matter is that, as even the member for Cottesloe - we love him now - told this house last week, the full sale of Telstra will not work. He said that it could well end up as a Telstra bungled float. The member for Cottesloe even highlighted the fact that the new head of Telstra said that $5 billion was needed. John Howard said that $3.2 billion would be adequate. Guess where the $1.8 billion shortfall will end up? It will end up in Western Australia, because the fact of the matter is that the federal members who represent this state say nothing. They are leaving it to their eastern states counterparts to make all the noise and attract all the attention and money. They are doing absolutely nothing and they know that the eastern states is where the bulk of the money will be going. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER replied: I personally believe there is no security. Even members of the National Party, who negotiated this $3 billion deal - I think it is $3.2 billion - are also starting to get nervous. They are now asking for a “no-lose guarantee”, because they are starting to remember the core, or non-core, promises made by John Howard. The Nationals are getting nervous even at this early stage, and why should they not? First, it was suggested that we would need $5 billion to do the job; then an offer of $2 billion was made. The government then suggested that it would meet them halfway with an offer of $3.2 billion. Will that be enough to do the job? I do not know. It may even be too much. I doubt it, particularly as we learnt last week that not only do we have a big problem in regional Western Australia, where the member comes from, but also in Perth. I was asked some time ago how much Western Australia could expect to get of the $3 billion. As a rule of thumb, as Western Australia represents one-third of the land mass, I said that it should get one-third. However, that will only look after regional Western Australia. What about Perth? Perth is the worst off of the capital cities in Australia. Therefore, I believe that Western Australia should get more than one-third. However, as even the federal National Party members are starting to ask, will this money become available? We must first ask what happened to the money from T1 and T2 share offers? Does anyone know where it went? The same will apply to this $3 billion. It will enter the black hole of the John Howard re-election fund. The fact of the matter is that, as even the member for Cottesloe - we love him now - told this house last week, the full sale of Telstra will not work. He said that it could well end up as a Telstra bungled float. The member for Cottesloe even highlighted the fact that the new head of Telstra said that $5 billion was needed. John Howard said that $3.2 billion would be adequate. Guess where the $1.8 billion shortfall will end up? It will end up in Western Australia, because the fact of the matter is that the federal members who represent this state say nothing. They are leaving it to their eastern states counterparts to make all the noise and attract all the attention and money. They are doing absolutely nothing and they know that the eastern states is where the bulk of the money will be going. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
I personally believe there is no security. Even members of the National Party, who negotiated this $3 billion deal - I think it is $3.2 billion - are also starting to get nervous. They are now asking for a “no-lose guarantee”, because they are starting to remember the core, or non-core, promises made by John Howard. The Nationals are getting nervous even at this early stage, and why should they not? First, it was suggested that we would need $5 billion to do the job; then an offer of $2 billion was made. The government then suggested that it would meet them halfway with an offer of $3.2 billion. Will that be enough to do the job? I do not know. It may even be too much. I doubt it, particularly as we learnt last week that not only do we have a big problem in regional Western Australia, where the member comes from, but also in Perth. I was asked some time ago how much Western Australia could expect to get of the $3 billion. As a rule of thumb, as Western Australia represents one-third of the land mass, I said that it should get one-third. However, that will only look after regional Western Australia. What about Perth? Perth is the worst off of the capital cities in Australia. Therefore, I believe that Western Australia should get more than one-third. However, as even the federal National Party members are starting to ask, will this money become available? We must first ask what happened to the money from T1 and T2 share offers? Does anyone know where it went? The same will apply to this $3 billion. It will enter the black hole of the John Howard re-election fund. The fact of the matter is that, as even the member for Cottesloe - we love him now - told this house last week, the full sale of Telstra will not work. He said that it could well end up as a Telstra bungled float. The member for Cottesloe even highlighted the fact that the new head of Telstra said that $5 billion was needed. John Howard said that $3.2 billion would be adequate. Guess where the $1.8 billion shortfall will end up? It will end up in Western Australia, because the fact of the matter is that the federal members who represent this state say nothing. They are leaving it to their eastern states counterparts to make all the noise and attract all the attention and money. They are doing absolutely nothing and they know that the eastern states is where the bulk of the money will be going. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER replied: I personally believe there is no security. Even members of the National Party, who negotiated this $3 billion deal - I think it is $3.2 billion - are also starting to get nervous. They are now asking for a “no-lose guarantee”, because they are starting to remember the core, or non-core, promises made by John Howard. The Nationals are getting nervous even at this early stage, and why should they not? First, it was suggested that we would need $5 billion to do the job; then an offer of $2 billion was made. The government then suggested that it would meet them halfway with an offer of $3.2 billion. Will that be enough to do the job? I do not know. It may even be too much. I doubt it, particularly as we learnt last week that not only do we have a big problem in regional Western Australia, where the member comes from, but also in Perth. I was asked some time ago how much Western Australia could expect to get of the $3 billion. As a rule of thumb, as Western Australia represents one-third of the land mass, I said that it should get one-third. However, that will only look after regional Western Australia. What about Perth? Perth is the worst off of the capital cities in Australia. Therefore, I believe that Western Australia should get more than one-third. However, as even the federal National Party members are starting to ask, will this money become available? We must first ask what happened to the money from T1 and T2 share offers? Does anyone know where it went? The same will apply to this $3 billion. It will enter the black hole of the John Howard re-election fund. The fact of the matter is that, as even the member for Cottesloe - we love him now - told this house last week, the full sale of Telstra will not work. He said that it could well end up as a Telstra bungled float. The member for Cottesloe even highlighted the fact that the new head of Telstra said that $5 billion was needed. John Howard said that $3.2 billion would be adequate. Guess where the $1.8 billion shortfall will end up? It will end up in Western Australia, because the fact of the matter is that the federal members who represent this state say nothing. They are leaving it to their eastern states counterparts to make all the noise and attract all the attention and money. They are doing absolutely nothing and they know that the eastern states is where the bulk of the money will be going. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
I personally believe there is no security. Even members of the National Party, who negotiated this $3 billion deal - I think it is $3.2 billion - are also starting to get nervous. They are now asking for a “no-lose guarantee”, because they are starting to remember the core, or non-core, promises made by John Howard. The Nationals are getting nervous even at this early stage, and why should they not? First, it was suggested that we would need $5 billion to do the job; then an offer of $2 billion was made. The government then suggested that it would meet them halfway with an offer of $3.2 billion. Will that be enough to do the job? I do not know. It may even be too much. I doubt it, particularly as we learnt last week that not only do we have a big problem in regional Western Australia, where the member comes from, but also in Perth. I was asked some time ago how much Western Australia could expect to get of the $3 billion. As a rule of thumb, as Western Australia represents one-third of the land mass, I said that it should get one-third. However, that will only look after regional Western Australia. What about Perth? Perth is the worst off of the capital cities in Australia. Therefore, I believe that Western Australia should get more than one-third. However, as even the federal National Party members are starting to ask, will this money become available? We must first ask what happened to the money from T1 and T2 share offers? Does anyone know where it went? The same will apply to this $3 billion. It will enter the black hole of the John Howard re-election fund. The fact of the matter is that, as even the member for Cottesloe - we love him now - told this house last week, the full sale of Telstra will not work. He said that it could well end up as a Telstra bungled float. The member for Cottesloe even highlighted the fact that the new head of Telstra said that $5 billion was needed. John Howard said that $3.2 billion would be adequate. Guess where the $1.8 billion shortfall will end up? It will end up in Western Australia, because the fact of the matter is that the federal members who represent this state say nothing. They are leaving it to their eastern states counterparts to make all the noise and attract all the attention and money. They are doing absolutely nothing and they know that the eastern states is where the bulk of the money will be going. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : They are Judases. Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
Mr J.J.M. BOWLER : Judases! We are beginning to realise that the whole process of the federal sale of Telstra has been rushed. The Liberal Party in Western Australia has been embarrassed by it. The National Party in Western Australia can take some credit for the performance of their federal colleagues. I am reminded of the words of Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, who said that a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. This is simply another John Howard verbal contract.
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