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 again to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Trade and goes to the important question of how this corruption scandal began. Can the Deputy Prime Minister confirm other evidence from Mr Rogers, the then CEO of the AWB, to the Cole inquiry that AWB officials met with DFAT officers in the second half of 1999 and is he aware that Mr Rogers told the commission: ‘If there was any change in any contract we were obliged to pass it through Canberra’? What action did the Deputy Prime Minister take to ensure that these new contract arrangements complied with UN sanctions?

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

I say again the contract conditions, in their compliance with UN sanctions, were the responsibility ultimately of the United Nations in approving the contracts. That is quite simple. Ultimately, if they approved the conditions then they complied with the sanctions—obviously.