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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, and I refer again to the answer he provided yesterday and indeed again to my first question. Why did the Deputy Prime Minister claim that AWB contracts with Iraq were certified by the United Nations and that the Australian government only issued export permits, when this simply is not true? Has the Deputy Prime Minister actually seen these contracts, in particular section 2 where it requests ‘certifying signature and official seal’? Deputy Prime Minister, is the seal attached to the AWB contract the seal of the United Nations or the seal of the Australian government?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition knows that these contracts are conducted under the auspices of the UN. The UN had to agree to the terms of the contracts and they had to agree to the payment being made out of the escrow account that they controlled.

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

On a point of relevance, Mr Speaker: this is the Australian government seal. It is your responsibility.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition does not have the call. Has the Deputy Prime Minister completed his answer?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister inform the House of US congressional interest in the Cole inquiry and its impact on our bilateral relations.

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Pearce for her question—and for a serious question about this issue. Let me make it clear that the relationship between Australia and the United States, which has been in the past ridiculed by the opposition, is a very strong and a very successful relationship. The Australian Ambassador to the United States, Dennis Richardson, met overnight with Senator Norm Coleman. The ambassador told Senator Coleman that Michael Thawley—Ambassador Richardson’s predecessor—had made representations last year to Senator Coleman in good faith, and that he and Michael Thawley, the Australian government and indeed many others had at that time considered AWB Ltd to be an organisation of repute and integrity. There was no evidence to suggest wrongdoing at that time, as even the United States Wheat Associates had conceded in June 2003, and AWB Ltd had privately and publicly strenuously denied any allegations of wrongdoing. Indeed, Mr Richardson had received a similar message himself, as he told Senator Coleman, from AWB Ltd when he met them before taking up his post in June 2005.

Senator Coleman subsequently issued a statement following the meeting. He said that Mr Richardson had addressed his concerns and reassured him on several counts, including that the Cole inquiry will be completely unfettered in its efforts to determine the truth behind the allegations that AWB Ltd paid illegal kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein regime, that the Australian government would cooperate fully with the Cole inquiry and that after the Cole inquiry was completed its evidence would be turned over to relevant law enforcement entities as appropriate. Senator Coleman finished up by saying that he was hopeful that this would strengthen the already strong US-Australian relationship.

Some people, and I think we all know who they are here, think that Australia’s reputation has been trashed in the United States and that our strong response is inadequate. As a matter of fact, some 66 countries were mentioned in the Volcker inquiry. Over 2,000 companies were found by Volcker to have been involved in paying kickbacks from 66 different countries. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only country of the 66 countries to have set up an inquiry of this kind. So I would have thought that the opposition, which has made some of the most preposterous allegations I have heard in 21 years, including the Leader of the Opposition claiming the Australian government is responsible for the killing of American soldiers—

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

Mr Beazley interjecting

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would expect the Leader of the Opposition and the opposition more generally—

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

Mr Beazley interjecting

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And he defends that! The public will not thank you for making that type of a claim. The opposition should respect the Cole inquiry and let it go about its work in the normal way, instead of constantly prejudging the government, prejudging AWB Ltd and indeed making a series of comments which are utterly ill-informed.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade. I refer to his answer to my question yesterday when he stated:

The structure of contracts was purely a matter between AWB and the United Nations.

Does the Deputy Prime Minister also recall telling this parliament exactly the reverse when he said ‘the certification that DFAT did on the contracts was in the structure of the contracts’? Was the responsibility to approve the contract structure the UN’s, as you told us yesterday, or the Australian government’s, as you told us last year?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I continue to say, the contracts were conducted under the auspices of the United Nations, the United Nations had to approve the terms of the contracts and the United Nations approved payments on the contracts. They were operated through that escrow account that was operated by the United Nations.