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 Minister for Trade. I refer to his statement yesterday that the WEA had investigated AWB contracts with Iraq and found there was nothing untoward about the operations of AWB in the oil for food program. Is he aware of evidence this morning from the chair of the WEA about how that investigation was conducted, in which he stated: ‘We looked them in the eye. They came back, looked us in the eye and said, “Look, we’ve done nothing wrong”’? Does the minister find this standard of investigation into allegations of a $300 million kickback to the Saddam Hussein regime acceptable?

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

If I know the individuals involved on the WEA, the experts we have on that particular authority, there would have been a much more forensic investigation than that. They would have investigated all the documentation that was made available to them by the AWB.