Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

If it will help the honourable member understand the role of the WEA, they look at land transport costs to free on board, because they are costs borne by wheat growers—in other words, they are a cost to the national pool. But in the normal course of events they do not look at land transport costs offshore because of the assurances they have received in the past that they are borne by the customer and therefore are not a draw on the national pool and are not within their charter. But they made an exception. To their full credit, they made an exception to this practice and to these responsibilities when in August 2004, on the basis of public newspaper reports, they made inquiries about land transport costs in the event that those costs were being borne by wheat growers. So it is a very simple thing. Let us talk about last night. Last night this was the smoking gun. This morning, the Leader of the Opposition says there is no smoking gun.

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