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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade. When the Deputy Prime Minister, as trade minister, was warned in January 2000 of Canadian and UN concerns about irregular payments by the AWB to Saddam Hussein’s regime, why did he turn a blind eye to these warnings by limiting the investigation to a simple phone call to the AWB, the very company that the Australian government had been warned about?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. This is an issue that has been canvassed at length. If I can just make a couple of points. In response to the January 2000 allegation, DFAT contacted AWB and it categorically denied the allegation. Bear in mind that the allegation came without any evidence—there was no evidence. In March, when the UN noted continuing concern about the matter and raised specific questions over contract conditions, DFAT obtained from AWB the requested paperwork and passed it on to the UN. This resolved the matter to the UN’s satisfaction, the UN saying it had removed any grounds for misperception. Can we make one point very clear in this. It was always the UN’s role to approve the oil for food contracts, including assessing value and price, not that of the Australian government.

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

Would the Deputy Prime Minister table the correspondence to which he refers—that is, the letter sent from the government to the UN assuring them that the AWB was not rorting kickbacks to Saddam Hussein?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Was the Deputy Prime Minister reading from a confidential document?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.