House debates Questions without Notice
Oil for Food Program
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:46 pm
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Given that the cables we have been referring to point exactly to the circumstances of AWB’s potential involvement in the breach of the sanctions regime of the United Nations and that you have stated a general awareness of it at the time, did you not fundamentally mislead this House when you said, ‘The allegations raised came to my attention as a result of the Volcker inquiry’? Isn’t this just another part of your personal cover-up?
David Hawker Speaker
Before I call the Deputy Prime Minister, I remind the Leader of the Opposition again that he should address his remarks through the chair.
Mark Vaile Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade
The answer to the Leader of the Opposition’s question is no. The Labor Party continue to selectively quote from material that has been presented to the Cole inquiry, so I am going to selectively quote. In one of the cables they have been referring to, the OIP, the Office of Iraq Program, noted it had no way of judging the accuracy or otherwise of the claims.
Michael Danby Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party
Mr Danby interjecting