govt flogging it off, page-13

Seems like there's some confusion as to why the govt is "flogging off" tls, but isn't this a little obvious?

1. TLS stands to gain from NBN
2. Future Fund (govt) owned 1.3 Billion odd shares in TLS
3. Govt decides the NBN-Telstra bill but needs to be seen to be impartial.

So, to avoid accusations of lining its own pockets, the most obvious tactic is to state that you are going to re-balance your portfolio as the holding in TLS was too high (done), then in the period immediately prior to the bill hitting parliament, start selling profusely & it doesn't matter at what price (done). That way if anyone claims that it's a deal for self-gain you can easily deflect this (you're selling like mad). If I was holding the purse strings I'd pull the pin on the selling as soon as possible after the bill had gone through.

Purely my thoughts of course (which is why I've been buying like mad for the past week). I could be wrong of course but that wouldn't be the first time.