Carr's New Telstra Job A Political Balancing Act

6 September 2008

TELSTRA is attempting to balance the political scales within its army of advisers by securing the services of the former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr.

Just days after David Luff, a former adviser to the previous prime minister John Howard, began work at Telstra, it has emerged that the telco has employed Mr Carr as an adviser.

Mr Carr has also been an adviser to Macquarie Group since shortly after he stepped down as premier in August 2005.

It comes as debate is expected to heat up in the next few months over the the desired shape of the Federal Government's plans for a $10 billion-plus national broadband network.

Telstra has repeatedly threatened to walk away from the process if the Government forced it to structurally separate its network from its retail business as a consequence of the planned broadband network.

Macquarie gave up on its ambitions several months ago to bid for $4.7 billion in Federal Government funding to build the proposed network, choosing instead to advise Telstra on its own bid for the biggest infrastructure deal of the Rudd Government's first term.

A Telstra spokesman yesterday declined to reveal Mr Carr's role at Telstra. "We have a range of consultants who advise in various areas," he said.

Telstra has earned a reputation for hiring former Liberal Party staffers, many of whom are employed in the telco's communications department.

One of the more prominent is David Quilty, an ex-adviser to cabinet and to Richard Alston, the former communications minister who was largely responsible for the regulatory environment Telstra has fought so vigorously in the last three years. Last month Mr Quilty replaced Phil Burgess, the outspoken right-hand man of Telstra's chief executive, Sol Trujillo.

Telstra severed its controversial ties with the Howard government's pollster and strategist, Crosby/Textor, before the federal election last year. But it still has on its payroll the government relations firm Hawker Britton, which has links to the ALP.


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