Senator CORMANN (3:33 PM) —As I noted before, in accordance with standing order 191 I seek to explain statements I made yesterday about the so-called deal between NBN Co. and Telstra, as they were misquoted or misunderstood by Senator Conroy. Senator Conroy asserted that, in pointing out that there was no deal to deliver a national broadband network between NBN Co. and Telstra but just a deal to try to do a deal, I had somehow not only accused the government of putting spin above substance but also by implication accused Telstra of trying to spin this announcement, which is not true at all. This is where I think Senator Conroy has clearly misunderstood or misquoted my statements yesterday. What I did yesterday was point out specific statements in Telstra’s letter—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Senator Cormann, you cannot go on and repeat what you said yesterday; you can only say where you claim to have been misquoted or misunderstood.

Senator CORMANN —I claim that I have been misunderstood or misquoted by Senator Conroy in his assertion that I was accusing Telstra of trying to spin the announcement of a deal between NBN Co. and Telstra. What I did do was point out that Telstra, in its letter to shareholders, pointed out that there were still many complex issues to be resolved and there was no guarantee that it would progress to completion.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —You are now debating the issue. You cannot go any further than what you have already done.