Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade. Isn’t it a fact that Mr Trevor Flugge of the AWB wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister personally about his concerns regarding the wheat trade with Iraq just 10 days before the AWB again wrote to your department with their proposal to engage Jordanian trucking companies to assist their trade with Iraq? Deputy Prime Minister, how could DFAT have written back to the AWB just three days later formally advising them that this would not contravene sanctions against Iraq, without getting a written legal opinion, without to this day being able to track down the legal officer in the department who is responsible for consulting with them on this matter and without even bothering to consult the UN, despite your statement today that it was the UN and not the government that had the power to approve contract arrangements with Iraq?

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