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Malcolm turns bullish on Telstra split

In this edition of Twisted Wire, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull says that a split of Telstra is long overdue and his personal preference is for a structural separation.
Written by Phil Dobbie, Contributor

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In this edition of Twisted Wire, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull says that a split of Telstra is long overdue and his personal preference is for a structural separation.

That's a sharp difference from noises in the Opposition in the last term of government, when Nick Minchin said such a split would be unfair on Telstra shareholders. In this half-hour interview, Turnbull says that a new approach can only help Telstra's sagging share price.

Our discussion, naturally, also focuses on the government's plans for the National Broadband Network.

Turnbull has launched himself into his shadow communications portfolio with a full frontal attack on the network. Late last month he produced a private members Bill that would call on the Productivity Commission to produce an analysis of the project and said that he would support it if their findings were "incredibly persuasive". I kick off our half-hour discussion by asking him what sort of things he'd be looking for.

Running time: 29 minutes, 12 seconds

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