Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Let me come exactly to that point, because I listened carefully to the member for Griffith’s contribution. Commissioner Cole has said he can and must inquire into the extent of government knowledge. He has also said he would seek to broaden the terms of reference if necessary. Therefore, constant claims by the member for Griffith, laboured at length here today, of rorted terms of reference are a slight against Commissioner Cole. Commissioner Cole has made it abundantly clear that he will correct the terms of reference to the extent he needs to determine government knowledge in this issue, and yet the member for Griffith persists with his accusations that the terms of reference are rorted. The member for Griffith cannot have it both ways. He has staked his reputation on his criticisms of the government, and if the commission of inquiry finds those criticisms to have been unfounded then the member for Griffith knows his own credibility will suffer.

The member for Griffith also said during the matter of public importance debate today that we have learnt a lot over the past 12 months, and that is the fundamental failure of his allegations against the government. We have learnt a lot over the last 12 months because of the commission of inquiry headed by Justice Cole and established by the government, and that is why the Labor Party cannot gain traction on this issue. It is the government that took the step of establishing the Cole inquiry. Of the 66 countries and more than 2,000 companies that were named in the Volcker report, Australia is the only country to have established a fully transparent inquiry with extensive powers, and the government has cooperated fully, completely and unhesitatingly with the Cole inquiry. There has been unparalleled access, and rightly so, to government documents and officials.

The Cole inquiry has sat for 65 days. Over 70 witnesses have appeared before it, including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and 18 current and former government officials. There have been over 100 statements from current and former government officials. The government has nothing to hide. We look forward to Commissioner Cole’s report. We have supported it, especially since we established it, and it is improper for the member for Griffith to reflect on the commission of inquiry’s very existence.

The member for Griffith persists with the argument of a cover-up. Every document the member for Griffith cites is from the website of the commission of inquiry. One thousand exhibits, containing thousands of pages of documents, have been made public by the inquiry. The majority has been available on the inquiry’s website for months, and obviously Commissioner Cole has access to many more documents beyond those available on the website. This is the biggest cover-up in the history of Australian politics, according to the member for Griffith, and yet it is the government that is responsible for the inquiry’s very existence and for the full and unfettered access the inquiry has to every aspect of government.

Just as offensive in the member for Griffith’s contribution today was something that we need to pick up on. He said, ‘This country’s reputation is shredded overseas’—a typical exaggeration and unfounded allegation, but I will tell you something: the member for Griffith is singing the song of our wheat competitors. The member for Griffith is giving aid and comfort to those who would undermine out wheat growers. To allege in this House that this country’s reputation is shredded is exaggerated to the point of disloyalty to the interests of this country and wheat growers, and the member for Griffith must bear responsibility for the damage he does to this country’s reputation by joining in the criticism of those who have a commercial interest to sustain against this country. I have travelled to Washington, I have met wheat growers and I have spoken to members of parliament. Of course some of them will seize on the issues surrounding the inquiry, because that serves their interest, but to say this country’s reputation is shredded is an act of gross misjudgement, if I can put it as benignly as that, by the member for Griffith.

The simple fact is that Commissioner Cole and counsel assisting the inquiry have been fearless in every aspect of their inquiry. They have the resources as well as the capacity to get to the truth of all matters. What I am more interested in, because everything associated with the government is transparent and accountable through the commission of inquiry, is the member for Griffith’s own dealings with what he now says is the company that dare not speak its name. We know the member for Griffith met repeatedly with the Australian Wheat Board. Where are his notes? Where are his recollections? He will not make them public; instead he seems to have misled people about the frequency of his meetings with the AWB. At one stage he said he had had only one meeting; now he concedes there have been several meetings.

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