I
find the Prime Minister’s comment that “it is the obligation of senior
executives of Telstra to talk up the company’s interest, not to talk
them down” very disappointing. If I was to make similar comments in
public I’d expect to have the regulators around and disciplinary action
taken quickly.

Quite frankly, such comments are what you would
expect from one of the corporate rogues of the 1980s – not the leader
of Australia. Without a doubt, it is not the job of a management team
to talk up a share price: it is their job to provide honest information
to all investors so that they can make a fully informed investment
decision.

I have very mixed emotions about what has been going
on with Telstra over the last few months. I know I’m in the minority,
but I like what the board and management team have been doing. They are
at last showing some backbone, independence and perhaps more honesty
than has been shown before.

Sure the comments that “I wouldn’t
recommend the shares to my mother “ are disappointing, but they are a
sideshow and at the very least the Prime Minister’s comments are no
better – and I bet he won’t be investigated.

With regards to
regulation, why is it that Telstra is attacked constantly with the
threat of regulation and an almost opposite approach is taken to other
large monopoly assets like Sydney Airport and the Australian Stock
Exchange? Sydney Airport increases its fees and the ASX cuts its
regulatory obligations with hardly a comment made. Perhaps it’s because
the big end of town owns those assets, while the small end of town owns
Telstra.

Finally, one of the very obvious conclusions one can
make from the turmoil of the last few weeks is that Telstra should be
fully privatized so that the conflicts of interest that have been so
apparent over the last few months are removed.

Disclosure: 452 Capital is an owner of Telstra shares.