Tuesday, 10 June 2003 - MVT43/2003

NSW Ag Minister Should Focus on Drought-Stricken Farmers

Trade Minister Mark Vaile urged NSW Agriculture Minister Ian Macdonald to stick to his state portfolio issues such as the ongoing drought and leave important international trade issues to the Federal Government.

Mr Vaile said Mr Macdonald’s recent demand that the Prime Minister call on US President Bush to protect Australia’s wheat trading interests in Iraq was naïve, unneccessary and uninformed. At his recent meeting with Mr Bush in Texas, Mr Howard raised Australia’s interest in ensuring a level playing field in the Iraqi wheat market.

“Mr Macdonald has enough challenges on his plate as a new NSW Agriculture Minister without weighing into Federal trade issues he appears to know little about,”Mr Vaile said. “Many of NSW’s farmers continue to suffer from the worst drought this century and need clear, decisive action from their state government –action that is not forthcoming from Mr Macdonald and Premier Carr.”

Mr Vaile last week instructed Australia’s embassy in Washington to contact the US government to ensure they understood the allegations by American farmers lobby US Wheat Associates were unfounded and offensive. Australia’s ambassador in Washington has raised the matter with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. US Wheat Associates wrote to US Secretary of State Colin Powell claiming Australia had secured its role as the principal supplier of wheat to Iraq by helping “top up the accounts of Saddam Hussein’s family.”

Mr Vaile described the allegations as “absurd and insulting”, but said he was sure Mr Powell and senior US administration officials understood the facts surrounding Australia wheat sales to Iraq under the United Nation’s Oil-for-Food program.

“Australia fully supports an open and competitive agricultural market in Iraq”, Mr Vaile said“. We are working to ensure that the market is not distorted by domestic production subsidies or credit schemes.”