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t3 might get 'disconnected' The phone is ringing but no one is home.

David Murray will crack the whip.

Telstra stock to Future Fund
From: AAP
March 31, 2006

THE Government was considering transferring its remaining majority shareholding in Telstra to the Future Fund, Finance Minister Nick Minchin said today.

The fund was established by Treasurer Peter Costello to manage a multi-billion asset portfolio to finance future superannuation payouts to public servants.
Senator Minchin said it was possible the Government could transfer its Telstra holdings to the fund.

"We will be transferring monies to the fund for it to invest in due course," he told ABC radio.

"Whether it receives a parcel of Telstra shares remains to be seen.

"It is certainly an option for the government to transfer either all or part of its current holding in Telstra to the Future Fund for the Future Fund itself to manage."

Led by former Commonwealth Bank chief executive David Murray, the fund's board of directors included Suncorp Metway's John Mulcahy and Robert Elstone, a director of the National Australia Bank.

Senator Minchin said there would be protocols to ensure no director faced a conflict of interest when choosing where the $120 billion fund should invest.

"We discussed this issue in great detail with David Murray and the board itself would of course have to develop protocols to ensure there is neither the reality or appearance of any conflict in any decisions that it makes," he said.

Senator Minchin said the board would have similar rules to federal cabinet where members must declare financial interests.

"It will operate like any other board where there must be declarations of interest as there is in the federal cabinet and, if appropriate, absence from the room if there is any decision that does involve any conflict," he said.

The senator said legislation for the fund was written to ensure there were no perceptions the Government was endorsing the companies the fund invested in.

"It is the board of governors who will be responsible for that and they are doing so entirely free and independent of the Government," he said.

"It will be the Future Fund itself not the Government that will be managing these investments and doing so utterly at arms length."