She has made a formal request to the Federal Minister for Communications Technology and the Arts, Richard Alston, that he "take action in regard to the swearing of false statements by Telstra Officers in Affidavits before the Supreme Court of Victoria" and to direct the company to produce documents that have been withheld.
Garms is seeking a "proper, vigorous and independent inquiry" into the affair, preferably by a retired senior businessperson rather than a member or former member of the legal profession.
She also called for major changes to the prevailing culture at Telstra's senior management levels. "There is a certain underlying problem in the way the corporation does business," she said, claiming that it has been too influenced by lawyers at the expense of acting properly. "The Minister's got to look at the way they do business".
"There's got to be a true restructure," she said, because Telstra is still carrying "the baggage of the old Telecom".
CoT is a group of people who say they suffered severe business losses as a result of problems with Telstra's phone service dating back to the late 1980s.
Although they received a settlement totalling around AU$6 million from Telstra, much of the money went in legal costs according to Melbourne businessman Ralph Bova, another member of CoT.
The deed of release required silence on the part of CoT members, but armed with two legal opinions that the agreement was "a sham," Garms and the others are continuing their campaign. CoT members also want their losses to be reassessed on a commercial basis, which they believe would increase the size of the payout.
Since when has Telstra told anyone the whole truth?
They think we can't handle the truth, I think the Australian public can handle the truth.