Fed: Labor accuses Howard of misleading parlt on ethanol
By Shane Wright
CANBERRA, Aug 4 AAP - Labor today accused Prime Minister John Howard of misleadingthe parliament and censoring key documents about a meeting he had with the nation's largestethanol producer.
Opposition Leader Simon Crean said Mr Howard was a leader who could not tell the truthor did not want to hear it.
But Mr Howard denied the claims, saying he had done nothing wrong and arguing he hadresponded to the context of questions asked by Labor in parliament.
It follows the government's decision last September to hit ethanol, a fuel additivederived from grain or sugar cane, with excise.
As part of the decision, local ethanol producers were paid a subsidy to offset the excise.
Under documents obtained by Labor primary industries spokesman Kerry O'Brien, it wasdiscovered Mr Howard met with the head of the country's biggest ethanol producer, DickHonan, on August 1.
During September last year, Labor asked Mr Howard a series of questions about Mr Honan,his relationship with the government, and possible meetings between the two.
On September 17, Mr Howard was asked if he or the government had been contacted byMr Honan or representatives of his company, Manildra.
"I did not personally have any discussions, from recollection, with any of them," he said.
Two days later, Mr Howard said again he had not talked to Mr Honan.
But Mr Crean said it was clear the meeting had taken place and that they had discussedthe issue of overseas competition.
"This is a prime minister that simply can't tell the truth," he told reporters.
"It's a prime minister who, when he's pinned, wants to use all sorts of narrow constructionsto avoid accountability.
"But it's another example of him now being caught out and his truthfulness being seriouslyquestioned again."
Mr Howard said he had honestly answered questions that dealt generally with a shipmentof Brazilian ethanol on its way to Australia.
The Brazilian shipment would have been cheaper than domestically produced ethanol ifnot for the excise that it attracted.
Mr Howard said the context of questions was about the Brazilian shipment.
"The answer I gave related to the question I was asked and the question I was askedwas in relation to a particular shipment of ethanol from Brazil and at the time I hadthe meeting I didn't know about the shipment," he told reporters in Darwin.
Mr Crean said the prime minister's office had been specifically told of the issue by August 21.
Senator O'Brien said in the Freedom of Information report released to him by Mr Howard'sdepartment, it was clear a series of issues were discussed by the two men.
He said details of the meeting had been censored in the report presented to him.
"If he's going to talk to Dick Honan, what's wrong with telling the parliament thetruth," he told AAP.
Senator O'Brien said Mr Howard was simply trying to protect Mr Honan who is a significantcontributor to the Liberal Party.
AAP sw/cjh/bwl
KEYWORD: MANILDRA NIGHTLEAD (WITH FACTBOX)
No comments:
Post a Comment