John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

He would have been remunerated. As to the precise amount and the precise source, I will obtain information on that and I will advise the member for Griffith. We are not disguising for a moment the fact that we encouraged the appointment of Mr Flugge. We thought Mr Flugge would fight hard for the Australian wheat industry. I do not remember the opposition saying at the time that it was a bad appointment. In fact, they said the opposite—just as in 2003 he was yelling from the rooftops that Downer and Howard should get out of the way and leave it all to the Australian Wheat Board. That is what he was saying.

I go through those press statements with great interest—with great relish. The Labor Party are so hypocritical on this subject. Way back in 2002-03, they would not have a word said against AWB Ltd. Now they invite us to believe that, all along, they knew about it, we knew about it, the alarm bells were ringing and the warning bells were there.

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