Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to his statement to the parliament on 25 March 2003 when he said:

... the oil for food program has been immorally and shamefully rorted by Saddam Hussein, who has used the proceeds of it to acquire his weapons capacity ...

In the middle of the Iraq war, with Australian troops in the field, why did the Prime Minister turn a blind eye to multiple warnings that Australia was the biggest contributor to this immoral and shameful rort, including Canadian government warnings in December 1999, warnings conveyed through the United Nations in January 2000 and warnings repeated by the UN in March 2000, which were all to the effect that Australia’s own AWB was rorting the oil for food programs to the financial benefit of Saddam Hussein? There were a few others as well.

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

The basis of the question is wrong. I deny that the government turned a blind eye. I accuse the Leader of the Opposition of deliberately distorting the facts.