Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Deputy Speaker. It is entirely relevant because this bill is about the process of moving away from those days, and the member for Calare raised the issue of the Australian Wheat Board as an example of great practice that we should get back to. I am pointing out that those days were a terrible time for Australian wheat exporters, because, as I came back to Australia and held meetings with government officials here, I was told: 'Look, the Howard government are involved in delicate negotiations for a free trade agreement with the United States. They do not want this sort of information out there at this time.' I warned them, of course, that this was going to threaten Australia's position in relation to wheat exports to Iraq—that, if we were not to engage in due diligence in investigating the terrible situation that had existed with the AWB, we would pay for it. And we did, all because the government wanted to pursue its free trade agreement negotiations with the United States.

Certainly I would like to set one aspect of the record straight. At the time that my statements were being reported in the media, there was a misinterpretation in some of that that I was pointing the finger at one particular member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Heidi Venamore, who worked with me in Iraq. Nothing could have been further from the truth. She was a very diligent public servant doing her best, and certainly the information was coming back to Australia. There was a misinterpretation of that situation, and certainly Heidi Venamore is an excellent servant of Australia and did a very fine job during her time in Iraq.

But the situation that pertained at that time with those limited terms of reference means that Australia really will never know the full story of the extent of the government role in covering up or being incompetent in relation to that period of time. We can never return to those days of the Australian Wheat Board.

We are progressing now to a proper, evidence based, market based approach to the management of the grains sector in this country. Why anybody on the other side of the chamber would be opposed to that defies belief and understanding. Certainly we know that it is providing the efficiency, the effectiveness, the productivity and the profitability that we sought to achieve with these reforms.

I would like to reflect finally on one last point, which I think brings us to an understanding of why the coalition probably do not accept or understand these points. I recall that Prime Minister Howard on 13 March 2003, six days before the start of the Iraq War, said that Saddam had rorted the oil for food program to buy weapons at the expense of his people.

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