Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

You are right. Nobody believed that a great Australian business organisation like AWB would be engaged in corrupt practices. Nobody believed that because we believe that Australian businesses act in an ethical way. There is no doubt at all that the findings of the Cole commission of inquiry exonerate the government. AWB systematically misled not only the Australian government but also the United Nations. The Volcker report unveiled corruption throughout the United Nations oil for food program involving no fewer than 2,200 companies from 66 countries while Saddam Hussein was in power. But even though there were 66 countries involved, only one country set up a commission of inquiry, and that country was Australia.