It's going to be a pretty hard task to sell when the future of the most profitable part of Telstra is so uncertain and risky. Its main business is in decline, and the downside is hard to ascertain.
They might consider how much they sell or think about some other method that doesn't actually get the whole thing away.
You don't want to be trying to sell half the company when management is out there talking about worse-case scenarios and doom and gloom. The government will have to postpone the sale if it doesn't clear up the uncertainty.