Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade. Can the Deputy Prime Minister explain why the estimated return to Australian wheat growers was only $285 per tonne from the 2002-03 pool, when AWB Ltd was signing contracts with Saddam Hussein of up to $521 per tonne—like this one—assessed and approved by his department on 12 January 2003? Given the $236 per tonne difference between returns to AWB Ltd and estimated returns to our wheat growers, why did he not act to protect their interests and ask where the $236 per tonne was going? Deputy Prime Minister, why did the government turn a blind eye to the fact that Saddam Hussein was making almost as much money from Australian wheat as Australian wheat growers?

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