Howard's Telstra Moment

As you are probably aware, if you're reading this in Australia, the main political story in the news at the moment is Telstra; the government wants to sell its remaining 51% share in the company, but are having problems, because the new board of directors, headed by Sol Trulijo, are basically coming out and saying that the telco is up a long creek with no paddle, riddled with problems. Apparently John Howard, our honourable PM, has been aware of these issues since August 11, but it's only now being revealed.

So last night, I switched on The 7:30 Report, expecting that there would be an interview with lil' Johnnie. And there was. But at first, the screen was frozen on the show's logo, and a voiceover came on saying, "We wish to advise that we are having transmission difficulties, we will resume the program as soon as possible." Then there were muted noises and muffled talking in the background...and then clear as a bell, you could hear John Howard's distinctive whiny voice saying "Well, you can't blame this on Telstra...(laughs)...no, we won't blame Telstra for this!" It was immediately followed by the voiceover guy again, saying, "As you can tell, we're having transmission difficulties..." then that was cut straight to the show, host Kerry O'Brien introducing himself, apologising for the delay, and then leading into the filed story on the Telstra problems, the the interview with Howard. From the manner in which the interview was conducted, I doubt that either of them were aware of Howard's earlier comments being transmitted.

You probably can't believe what you're reading; I know I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How did that get on the air? Isn't there a delay to prevent that kind of thing? For instance, alot of people are unaware that an audience member ran onto the stage during the Big Brother final; it was cut out of the transmission. I'm left with one conclusion...call me paranoid...but the ABC is often accused of left wing bias. Maybe...Howard's remarks were broadcast on purpose to get him in trouble. Anyway, I was fully expecting the story to be all over the media this morning, but I listened to NewsRadio and watched the bulletins on both the Today Show and Seven Sunrise (the things I do for you people - David Koch in the morning is almost too much for me to stand) but not a peep. I'm wondering...Cotard if you were watching you may be able to answer this...whether it was only seen in the Eastern states, and cut from later broadcasts in the west, or did everyone hear the goof?