House debates Questions without Notice
Mr Trevor Flugge
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security
2:46 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the former AWB chairman and National Party candidate Trevor Flugge was a representative of the Howard government on the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq? Can the Prime Minister inform the parliament how long this appointment lasted, whether his position was funded by the Australian taxpayer to the tune of $700,000 and whether this amount was paid to Mr Flugge by Australia’s aid agency, AusAID?
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
I certainly know Mr Trevor Flugge; as indeed do those opposite. Mr Flugge was appointed to the Australian Wheat Board in 1984 by the Hawke government. He was Deputy Chairman of the Australian Wheat Board from 1990 to 1995, presumably an appointment made during the terms of office of both the Hawke and the Keating governments, and he was a director and chairman of the Australian Wheat Board, as it was then known, from 1995—that would have been under the Keating government—until 2002. I do not disguise for a moment the fact that the government sought the involvement of Mr Flugge in post-Saddam Iraq. I will tell you why we sought his involvement: it was because our principal concern at that time was to stop American wheat growers from getting our markets.
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security
Mr Rudd interjecting
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The member for Griffith has asked his question.
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
It is about time the member for Griffith understood and recalled his own rhetoric from those days. His own rhetoric in 2002-03 was essentially that the government should get out of the way and leave it all to the AWB. That is what the member for Griffith was saying.
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security
Come on! We want to know how much he was paid.
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Griffith continues to interject, having been constantly reminded. He is warned.
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
He would have been remunerated. As to the precise amount and the precise source, I will obtain information on that and I will advise the member for Griffith. We are not disguising for a moment the fact that we encouraged the appointment of Mr Flugge. We thought Mr Flugge would fight hard for the Australian wheat industry. I do not remember the opposition saying at the time that it was a bad appointment. In fact, they said the opposite—just as in 2003 he was yelling from the rooftops that Downer and Howard should get out of the way and leave it all to the Australian Wheat Board. That is what he was saying.
I go through those press statements with great interest—with great relish. The Labor Party are so hypocritical on this subject. Way back in 2002-03, they would not have a word said against AWB Ltd. Now they invite us to believe that, all along, they knew about it, we knew about it, the alarm bells were ringing and the warning bells were there.
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House
David Hawker Speaker
The Prime Minister will resume his seat. Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer?
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House
Mr Albanese interjecting