JOURNALIST:
Treasurer there has been a bit of furore, if you like, from Cricket Australia and fellow cricketers about the latest Shane Warne saga. The Australian Sports Commission, do they have the power to actually stop him from training with Cricket Australia, and for that matter with his Victorian team-mates?
TREASURER:
Well the Sports Commission obviously is responsible for the overall conduct of sport in Australia, it has quite a substantial budget and it has to use that budget to ensure that the aims are upheld. One of the aims is, of course, to keep sport in Australia drug free, and that is why they are taking such a strong stand in relation to this and they have the full backing of the Government to do that.
JOURNALIST:
So they do have your backing?
TREASURER:
They do have the backing of Government. The Australian Sports Commission administers money on behalf of the public, taxpayers' money, and they have the obligation to ensure that Australia's strong stand against drugs in sport is maintained.
JOURNALIST:
A couple of commentators in the morning papers are saying that politicians should keep out of it and leave sports administration to the sports administrators.
TREASURER:
Well this is not an area that the politicians are running, it is an area that the Sports Commission is running. The Sports Commission has got wide representation of people who have been involved in sport and are sports administrators. This isn't a situation where the Government is determining something, the Government is backing the Sports Commission which is an expert body which is charged with responsibly administering the area.
JOURNALIST:
Do you personally agree with the decision?
TREASURER:
And I personally agree with it.
JOURNALIST:
Just on another issue, how confident are you on the passage of the full sale of Telstra?
TREASURER:
Well it will be a difficult road through the Senate. We know that the Opposition will try and defeat the Government's program, but the legislation has passed the House of Representatives, now it is a question of seeing whether we can convince the Senators and I am sure that it will be a long period.
JOURNALIST:
You have had one National Party Member and one Liberal Party Member abstain from voting, do you think that is showing that there is a bit of shaky support within the Coalition?
TREASURER:
Oh no, the Bill was passed with a pretty substantial majority in the House of Representatives. Of course the Government does not have a majority in the Senate, it never has had, so it is going to be a tougher and tortuous road. But at the end of the day, let me make this point, the status of Telstra has to be resolved. If you believe that Telstra ought to be nationalised, then you ought to buy all the shares back from the private mums and dads who own shares. If you believe that the telephone service can be equally as well run in the private sector, then Telstra ought to be fully privatised. But this situation where it is half-nationalised, half-privatised isn't going to work for the long term. Thank you.