Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has dealt the Federal Government out of all commercial investment decisions made by the $85.6 billion Future Fund as a result of a $2.4 billion sell-down of Telstra shares last August that caused protests from shareholder groups.

The Senate has called on the market regulator to investigate whether the Future Fund was tipped off about impending regulatory changes in the communications sector just weeks before offloading huge numbers of Telstra shares.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has rejected suggestions that the sell-down of Telstra shares by the Future Fund three weeks ago was in anticipation of the government’s announcement today of telecommunications regulatory reform.

The Australian Shareholders' Association is furious at the Government for forcing structural or functional separation on Telstra, and questions what the Future Fund knew when it sold down its Telstra shareholding.