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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance and Administration (Senator Minchin) to a question without notice asked by Senator O’Brien today relating to the Australian Wheat Board and the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme.

My question was regarding the AWB debacle and this government’s miserable performance in relation to AWB. Despite the confected rage of this government—and of Senator Minchin, in particular, in answer to my question—there can be no hiding from the fact that this government has effectively been an effigy of the three wise monkeys in relation to AWB. They have heard no evil, they have seen no evil and they have spoken no evil. In fact, when they have had an opportunity to actually do something, they have put their hands over their ears and closed their eyes. They have done everything possible to avoid taking action and disclosing to the public—or to themselves, for that matter—just what AWB was up to.

In June 2003, when the American wheat industry was talking about corruption and suggesting that bribes were taking place, I put out a press release that said, ‘We haven’t seen any evidence, but Mr Vaile and Mr Truss should investigate this matter.’ What did they do? Nothing. Of course, when the Wheat Export Authority was exposed, by a Senate committee on which the government had a majority, as a paper tiger with limited power—limited power that Mr Truss and Mr Vaile had known about—we found that the government had known about the difficulties since the year 2000 and had done nothing. So, when the game was over, they were prepared to act.

Did they, when they had the chance, do anything about the Wheat Export Authority, which has been exposed by their commission of inquiry as absolutely useless? No. They left it in power. Wilson Tuckey, the member for O’Connor is right. He said, ‘The dogs have been barking about corruption for years. A number of people who were not Liberals were constantly out in the marketplace saying it was the way you did business in the Middle East.’ Senator Joyce is still saying that. That is what the National Party was saying within the coalition party room for all of those years. That is why nothing was happening.