Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Public Accountability and Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

What I am saying is absolutely germane to the bill. I am concerned that, if this bill passes, donations by companies like AWB to the Liberal and National parties will be secret and will not be transparent, and we will not be able to make judgments about them. I consider these remarks absolutely germane to the bill.

We had our ambassador telling a United States Senate committee chairman, in order to prevent a US Senate inquiry into AWB’s conduct, absolute falsehoods. We sent AWB personnel, such as Trevor Flugge and Daryl Hockey, into post-Saddam Iraq, and paid them handsomely out of the aid budget. So did AWB’s campaign donations pay off? You bet your sweet bippy they did. And they are still paying off.

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