Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is directed to Senator Coonan, Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Trade. Minister, were the ministers for foreign affairs and trade aware that the Wheat Export Authority started investigating the inflated wheat price, the use of a Jordanian trucking company and the general ethics of AWB’s contracts with Iraq as early as February 2004? Does the government seriously maintain that Minister Truss was so out of touch with his portfolio that, before the royal commission was established, he was unaware of both this investigation and the activities of AWB? Given the Volcker inquiry and the allegations emanating from the United States, does the minister seriously maintain that neither Minister Truss nor anyone else alerted the Minister for Foreign Affairs or the Minister for Trade about these investigations that potentially so impacted on their duties and on Australia? Is the government really so dysfunctional, or is it a case of The Nationals protecting their vested interests in preference to those of the government?