Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and follows the question he was just asked and his evasion of the implications in that question. Will the foreign minister accept any responsibility whatsoever for the government’s failure to uphold UN sanctions against Iraq? How will the foreign minister explain to our British friends why Australian money was used to fund the bullets that Saddam Hussein fired at British, Australian and allied troops while he and his government turned a blind eye?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We were talking earlier about the phrase ‘characteristic diligence’. No-one would accuse the Leader of the Opposition of characteristic diligence. For a start, the Leader of the Opposition might be interested to know that it was not Australian money; it was money from the Iraqi sale of oil which was paid into a United Nations escrow account. That is the first point. The second point is that I would have thought the government had absolutely done the right thing by setting up the Cole inquiry—

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

Mr Rudd interjecting

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You don’t think so? Well, I do. I think the Cole inquiry is doing a very good job. It is obtaining a wide amount of information. The Prime Minister and I have provided the Cole inquiry with all of our relevant documentation, and Commissioner Cole will draw his own conclusions. When he draws his conclusions, we will be able to talk about those conclusions. Did AWB Ltd deliberately and knowingly—or unknowingly—end up paying kickbacks through this trucking company into Iraq? That is something that the Cole commission is establishing. We certainly believed that AWB Ltd was adhering to Australian law. When I say ‘we’, I include myself, the Minister for Trade, the Prime Minister and other ministers, such as the minister for agriculture. I include members of the Australian Public Service, including desk officers in my department who are working day by day on these issues. We always did believe it.

The one shock I got in all of this was when Mr Agius presented his initial findings in January this year, which suggested that AWB Ltd may have knowingly been paying kickbacks. That came as a great surprise to all of us. It simply illustrates the fact that we have done the right thing by setting up this inquiry. Material is coming out in the inquiry which is helpful to all of us. This is the message I would have for Mr Blair. Off the top of my head, a couple of hundred companies from other countries were—according to Volcker—involved in kickbacks to Iraq.

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

Mr Rudd interjecting

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We, in our country, have set up a transparent process. I think other countries respect and appreciate—

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

Order! The member for Griffith is warned.

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the transparency of our process.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.