The Government can't be seen to have conducted a fire sale, giving away massive slabs of taxpayer value; nor would it want to sell the holding at the nadir of Telstra's fortunes only to see the shares rebound if Trujillo's change program is ultimately a success. It could defer the sale beyond its scheduled "window" late next year, but it wants to put Telstra and T3 well behind it before it enters an election year. It could also stage the process, to spread the impact of the volume of shares offered on the Telstra share price and minimise the discount it would face. But there is perhaps a cleverer way to deal with the problem, one that reduces the volume of shares the Government has to sell and therefore the discount, but which enables it to quit the holding while still providing taxpayers with an exposure to improvement in Telstra's condition and prospects.