Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Has the minister now been informed that the Chair of the Wheat Export Authority, Mr Tim Besley, has written to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee admitting that he gave misleading evidence at estimates last November? Why did it take three months for Mr Besley to correct the record, when his evidence was so blatantly wrong?

When was the minister first informed that the evidence given by Mr Besley to estimates was incorrect and that the Wheat Export Authority had investigated AWB’s contracts with Iraq and the use of a Jordanian trucking company? What steps did the minister then take to ensure that the record was corrected immediately? Is the minister satisfied that the Wheat Export Authority did all that it could to correct the record, when it must have known that the evidence it gave at estimates was so obviously wrong?