If ever there were events that characterised the title of this website it would have to be this government’s appalling attempts to divest itself of Telstra. What a sad, sorry and pathetic saga this has been.

Howard’s continuing ideology driven obsession to privatise the telco has completely messed up what should have been a reasonably simple and logical process.

Step one. Split Telstra into two. A retail arm and an infrastructure arm. Not that difficult now is it?

Step two. Privatise the retail arm, and keep the infrastructure arm in public ownership. The network is a national asset, we paid for it. It should not be in Telstra’s hands.

In this way, all telephone companies would pay for access to the network to a government agency, the profits from which could be put back into improving the network, rather than lining the pockets of Howard’s mates in big business.

But Howard’s band of no-hopers have made sure this will never happen, and that there will never be fair and equitable access to the network for other players in Australia’s telecommunications industry.