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. I refer to his answer to my previous question about when the government first became aware of the US Department of Defense report which names the AWB as one of the companies overpricing its contracts with Iraq. Minister, given that the US defense department’s report was addressed to the Coalition Provisional Authority, which had Australian government representatives at a senior level, and given that it referred to the AWB by name and requested immediate action from the Coalition Provisional Authority, does the minister expect this parliament to believe that the government was not aware of this report?

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

The member for Griffith clearly indicates that the report was to the CPA. The CPA has acted, the UN has acted and the Australian government has acted by establishing the most far-reaching inquiry of any government that had a business involved in the oil for food program.