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

The answer to the first part of the question is no, I have not. The answer to the second part of the question—have I breached their trust, or have I gone back on a promise?—is no. In support of that denial, I refer to no better authority than the Australia Banana Growers Council. It said:

The large volume of frozen banana brought into Australia from Vietnam has taken the Australian Banana Growers’ Council by surprise but it does not believe this is a breach of the commitment given by the Prime Minister regarding fresh green banana imports.

Quite frankly, I know it is election time in Queensland. In response to the cyclone in Far North Queensland, the federal government to date has poured—as it should have, and I support the expenditure to the hard-pressed people of Far North Queensland of every single dollar I am about to quote—$249 million of assistance into that community, and the amount contributed, so I am advised, by the Queensland government falls short of $100 million. I do not criticise the Queensland government and, up until yesterday when this banana thing cropped up, I had worked in total bipartisan harmony with the Queensland Premier, Mr Beattie. At no stage had either of the governments tried to make any political capital out of this. With every announcement I was about to make, I rang the Queensland Premier to talk about it.

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