Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

This is an outrageous allegation against the government. At no stage did the government have any knowledge about whether kickbacks were being paid to the former Iraqi regime. I was never provided with any evidence supporting the allegation that AWB was paying kickbacks. DFAT did not approve AWB contracts under the oil for food program. That was the responsibility of the United Nations. DFAT did not approve the use of the trucking company Alia, and the government have cooperated fully with Volcker and with the Cole inquiry. The Leader of the Opposition says—and the opposition keep running this line—that there were 14 or 15 warnings on this. There were two major circumstances where allegations or concerns were raised, and they were addressed—one in 2000 and one in 2003. We have made that abundantly clear. That was made abundantly clear to the Volcker inquiry, and the Volcker inquiry recognised that.

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