Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, the American wheat growers have an ally on the other side of this House. The Australian Labor Party have become the best friend of the American wheat growers. They are not interested in the welfare of Australian wheat growers.

Every day, the member for Griffith comes into this place with another question to the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister or the Minister for Foreign Affairs. They are all questions about baseless allegations against ministers of this government; a government that has fully cooperated with the Cole commission of inquiry. This government has absolutely nothing to hide. In fact, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the foreign minister have all appeared before the Cole commission of inquiry and given evidence—that is the sort of power that we have given to the Cole commission of inquiry.

Let us talk about the wheat trade with Iraq. Wheat was Australia’s 10th largest merchandise export in 2005, with almost $3 billion worth of exports. That is a significant contribution to the Australian economy. It is a valued part of our export performance. Iraq has been a substantial market for Australian wheat growers for more than 50 years. It is a market valued by the Australian wheat grower. In 2005-06, we sold Iraq some 715,000 tonnes. We care about the prospects for future sales of wheat to Iraq. The Deputy Prime Minister cares about the prospects for future sales of wheat to Iraq.

Clear evidence of that was the Deputy Prime Minister going to Baghdad earlier this year to ensure that Australian wheat growers were able to tender for the 350,000-tonne contract that was up for negotiation at that time. The Iraqi Grains Board had banned the Australian Wheat Board from bidding for that wheat tender. But the Deputy Prime Minister went into the most dangerous war zone in the world and negotiated with the Iraqi Grains Board and their ministers to ensure that Australian wheat growers were able to bid for that wheat tender—and we were successful. Is that the action of a government that does not care about the wheat grower? Is opening a full royal commission-like inquiry into the allegations that have been made in the Volcker report the action of a government trying to cover up actions that might embarrass the government? No, it is not. We reject the allegations and we reject the MPI presented by the Labor Party. (Time expired)

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