Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Hansard source

Today is the day that the Prime Minister’s credibility and the Deputy Prime Minister’s credibility have exploded in this place on the issue of the wheat for weapons scandal. The Prime Minister’s credibility has exploded, as he knows full well—and we can tell by the worried looks on the faces of his advisers—around this simple proposition: the Prime Minister has argued to this parliament and to the country for three months that, firstly, the powers available to the Cole commission of inquiry do not need to be widened, because the government got a clean bill of health from the Volcker inquiry; secondly, the Volcker inquiry made that finding because the Volcker inquiry had full cooperation with it; and, thirdly, the Volcker inquiry had access to full documentation from the Howard government. This is the essence of the Prime Minister’s argument as he escapes from the chamber.

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