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

It is easy, six years after the event, to say, ‘Oh!’ But I would remind the Leader of the Opposition that three years later his colleague the member for Griffith was saying to the Minister for Foreign Affairs: ‘Get out of the way and leave it all to AWB Ltd. AWB is a paragon of virtue and competence in which we invested our entire faith and our entire hope.’

Let me resume the answer to the question raised by the Leader of the Opposition. I am advised that DFAT contacted AWB Ltd, who categorically denied the allegations. In March of that same year, the United Nations query about Canadian allegations and on AWB contract terms was resolved to the United Nations’ satisfaction.

See this speech in context