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

What is that all about? How come they say they want Gavan O’Connor’s media release entitled ‘Prime Minister wrong on AWB documents’ and dated 8 February 2006 recalled? There is a story there. My guess is—and I stand to be corrected—that the Leader of the Opposition realised that the member for Corio had employed hype, overhype and exaggerated hype of a kind that could not be substantiated. Thankfully, we do not have anything more on that level today, but still this is ‘a scandal’ of ‘momentous proportions’ of a kind ‘not seen before’ and it is ‘the first time in history’. For the wheat industry there is no underestimating the worry and uncertainty that it has caused for many grain growers who should be at the forefront in our considerations. But that is not what the member for Corio is alleging. He is alleging it is the worst or most momentous scandal for a government in history. Plainly, that is utterly wrong.

The opposition has no smoking gun. Ministers have properly discharged their responsibilities. The Wheat Export Authority were diligent in their examination of the Australian Wheat Board’s contracts with the Iraqi authorities. I am satisfied they brought a strong purpose to their task, but obviously it may well be proved to have been an unsuccessful task. But if the WEA were found to have been deceived or misled, then I venture to suggest they were not Robinson Crusoe. I have been advised that the WEA looked at all relevant information, that they spent a great deal of time and that they have looked at various records, contracts, certification of export details and authorisation letters from the United Nations and verified that the details were consistent with information and data previously obtained by the WEA. But, in any event, this is a matter for Cole. The report to the then minister for agriculture in October 2004 has been provided to Justice Cole, and anything that the Cole inquiry requests is of course provided. So it will be a matter for the Cole inquiry and we should all allow it to do its job—and we have a great deal of confidence naturally in the thoroughness and integrity of that job.

The member for Corio touched on the issue of incentives and weaved a wild tale that the fact that the WEA set out to identify what, if any, incentives existed must have alerted the minister several years ago to this cloud of corruption. To set the record straight, the WEA’s 1999-2000 annual report sets out the approach to be used by the WEA in identifying what, if any, incentives exist as a result of the wheat export arrangements and AWBI’s domestic supply chain management to deliver benefits to Australian wheat growers. As the member for Corio highlighted, a consultant was utilised to inform this assessment. Examples of the incentives intended to be assessed and quoted in the annual report include ‘Joint ventures with millers, storage organisations, export credit breaks and staff exchanges’. The WEA’s use of the word ‘incentives’ related only to the incentives or benefits of the Australian export arrangements and not to monetary payments to third parties and overseas markets. That is a terribly important point and that is where the member for Corio stretched the truth.

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