Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, can you confirm for us—and I will quote directly from one of the US embassy cables dated 27 February 2008—whether or not:

Australia would welcome U.S. assistance in identifying African countries with potential interoperability issues who can be recruited to vote with the Like-minded and in reviewing the proposed interoperability text.

Unless this is being mistranslated or misreported by the US embassy here in Canberra—is Australia seeking US advice on which African countries we should lobby in order to find countries that we might be able to line up to weaken the treaty. Is it true? And what advice was provided by the US, if that is the case?