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

My question is to Senator Minchin, representing the Prime Minister. Is the minister aware that the recent comments by the member for O’Connor that ‘the dogs have been barking’, about corruption in AWB for years, mirror comments from the well known Victorian grain trader, Mr Ray Brooks? Isn’t the member for O’Connor right when he says that the government was guilty of trusting a mob of agri-politicians with close ties to the National Party? Didn’t Mr Brooks confront the then agriculture minister, Mr Warren Truss, in 2002 with concerns about AWB only to be told by the minister: ‘Don’t give me that bull’—and I will not repeat the last word? Aren’t both the member for O’Connor and Mr Brooks right when they say the National Party ministers were quick to dismiss concerns about the actions of their mates in AWB because they put personal interests ahead of their responsibility as ministers?