A wrong choice by Telstra.

Telstra's hiring of Labor's pollster is right out of the lobbying text book and the research findings Glenn Milne wrote about in The Australian this morning should be dismissed as the rubbish that they probably are for that reason alone. Crude bullying tactics should be rewarded only if there is no alternative but to give in to the blackmailer. If that was the case with the national broadband network (NBN) proposal there would be no need for Telstra to be the bully in the first place and it could have saved the considerable sum it is paying to John Uttting's UMR Research. Utting, of course, is the man credited with providing Labor with the data it needed to plan Kevin Rudd's successful election campaign a year ago. Telstra, with all the rat cunning of a would-be monopolist, hopes that having an organisation Labor trusts tell the Government that the mob actually like and respect Telstra would carry considerable weight as decision day on the project arrives. My guess is that Telstra has misread the Rudd style with this assessment. The PM has shown considerable caution about exposing himself to any allegations of making decisions other than by the book and that he will want to avoid any suggestion of being influenced by a Labor mate.