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Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Action the last straw for struggling farmers

Well Cristy girl, my thoughts on all of this, We are pretty sure Howard knew, I believe he knew myself, Pretty sure Georgie knew I also believe that he knew myself, We know the UN knew of the KickBacks. We have Senator Coleman and the American Wheat farmers and US legislators demanding tough penalties on Australian wheat growers, Then we have Anger at new Iraq abuse photos, Shock ... the US fears the images will endanger troops

We have two lying heads of Govt, timing I dont like the timing at all in any of this and the only ones that will suffer over all of this is our Wheat Farmers and Your Soldiers wounded and dying in their thousands in a illegal war and occupation, Dirty Dirty Evil War, and Dirty Dirty Evil heads of Govt.

I ask is it payback? I dont like the timing even though the public have a right to know

THE United By Caroline OveringtonFebruary 14, 2006

IT'S tough enough to grow wheat in Australia, what with the drought and the flooding rain.When a big reliable customer like Iraq turns its back on your product - not because of the quality or the price, but because of corruption by the marketing folk in the city - it's almost too much to bear.

Travis Schubert grows wheat on a property near land owned by his father, Clem Schubert, in Murray River, South Australia. Last year, they produced about 1500 tonnes of wheat.
"Not a huge amount," Mr Schubert admits. "But good prices are our lifeline and we've always had Iraq. It's been one of our most reliable customers."

Now Iraq has suspended its relationship with AWB - the only company permitted to export Australian wheat - over allegations the company paid $290 million in bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime.

"It makes me angry, because it means America has an excuse to go and grab our market share," Mr Schubert said.

"And what annoys me is, I didn't pay any bribes. We are just the producer of the grain.
"I don't want to see the Australian farmer, the grain producer, his reputation be tarnished by the hierarchy in that company. The information (coming out of the Cole corruption inquiry) wasn't known to us on the land. But we are the ones who will get punished."

Nationwide, the reaction was the same. Western Grain Growers vice president Rick Wilson, who grows wheat on a property three hours from Perth, said Australian farmers had produced a bumper crop of 20 million tonnes this year "and now, without Iraq, more of that wheat will now have to go into cheaper markets, like Egypt.

"The prices AWB gets for us are bad enough as it is," he said. "The Government can't wait until after the Cole inquiry to do something about this. It has to change the legislation immediately, to issue export licences to other grain traders, people we want to deal with."

Grant Holland, who grows wheat near Young, in central west NSW, said Iraq's decision was "devastating, absolutely".

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Howard to break AWB's monopoly

By Steve Lewis and Caroline OveringtonFebruary 15, 2006

WHEAT exporter AWB will be asked to temporarily forgo its export monopoly as the Howard Government attempts to stem the damage from the illegal kickbacks scandal to salvage $800 million in lost wheat contracts with Iraq.In what could be the first step towards breaking down AWB's stranglehold, John Howard will discuss establishing an alternative system when he meets the corporation's senior management in Canberra today.

But the Government is still trying to control the market and is expected to try to limit any alternative to an Australian grain handling company rather than allow an overseas competitor to gain a foothold in the process.

Grain brokers have cast doubt on whether the plan can work and have warned domestic prices might rise as a result of any quick fix.

The crisis meeting was called after the Iraqi Grains Council suspended wheat contracts with Australia until the Cole corruption inquiry had finished, putting at risk contracts worth up to $800 million a year. Iraq yesterday said it would consider buying Australian wheat from non-AWB companies, placing the onus on the Government to change the system.

Facing a deepening crisis over Australia's wheat trade, the Prime Minister yesterday wrote to his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, in an effort to restore Australia's trade links with the emerging democracy. In an emotive call, Mr Howard cited Australia's "close and supportive" relationship with Iraq as he urged Dr Jaafari to reverse the "particularly worrying" decision.

"Given the extensive and thorough nature of the Cole commission inquiry and the Government's full commitment to the process, as well as the legitimate interests of Australian wheat farmers and Australia's longstanding relationship with Iraq, I would strongly urge your Government to reconsider its decision to suspend dealings with AWB Ltd pending the findings of the Cole commission and any subsequent action by the Australian Government," Mr Howard said.

He also cited "the repeated willingness of Australia to assist the people of Iraq in their courageous but difficult embrace of democracy".

The fallout from Iraq's sudden decision to halt wheat sales from Australia has forced the Government to consider urgent action, including asking AWB to waive the veto power it holds over alternative exporters.

AWB chairman Brendan Stewart and acting managing director Peter Polson will meet Mr Howard this morning to discuss ways to ensure Australia wins back the Iraqi contract.

Other key industry stakeholders, including the Grains Council of Australia, have been working on alternative arrangements with the Government in a bid to limit the short-term fallout from the Cole inquiry.

In an important signal to Canberra, Grains Council chairman Murray Jones yesterday called on the Government to change the current single-desk arrangement which gives AWB effective monopoly rights over wheat sales.

"It is obvious that the system of wheat marketing - whereby AWB holds a monopoly - will have to change," Mr Jones told the NSW Farmers Association.

But Mr Howard is reluctant to overhaul the single-desk arrangements, instead seeking a temporary solution to try to win back the Iraqi contracts. It is expected one option to be discussed today will include establishing an alternative to AWB to deal solely with Iraq.

While some senior Liberal figures, including Peter Costello, want to end the present single-desk arrangements, Mr Howard signalled he remained unconvinced.

"There would need to be a very strong national interest case in order to alter that," he said.
A day after shocking Australian farmers by saying it would not deal with AWB, Iraq yesterday said it might still buy Australian wheat, but only from companies other than AWB.

In a statement from Baghdad, Iraq said it had cancelled its tender for one million tonnes of wheat because the US price was too high.

Iraq will now reissue the tender, and consider buying supplies from Europe, Canada or "Australian companies other than AWB".

"The American prices were too expensive," an Iraqi Grains Board officials said.

"First they wanted $US190 per tonne then $US200, which is too high. We will try to get it from Europe or Canada or other Australian companies."

Australia offered its wheat at $US10 less than the US price but Iraq said on Monday it would not buy Australian wheat because AWB has been accused of providing illicit funds to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi official said the country's grain board had 1.2 million tonnes of wheat reserves, enough to last four months.

The most likely option for the Government would be to ask AWB not to veto other companies from exporting wheat to Iraq and to find another company to deal with the wheat.

The Government is likely to try to favour an Australian company: the east coast GrainCorp, West Australian-based Co-operative Bulk Handling or CBH, and ABB, formerly the Australian Barley Board.

Former senior AWB commodities trader Tony Smith, who now runs his own commodities trading business, said internationals such as Cargill or Louis Dreyfus could also be used.

Mr Smith said because wheat from the current harvest had already been delivered to AWB, any surrogate company would have to buy about one million tonnes from either AWB or the domestic market to fulfil demand from the Iraqi market for the year.

"If the AWB let this licence go through then they know they're effectively selling wheat to Iraq via a middle man," Mr Smith said yesterday.

However drawing one million tonnes of wheat from the six-million-tonne domestic market would send prices "through the roof", possibly pushing the price up by as much as 15 per cent, Mr Smith said.

Alick Osborne, spokesman for Louis Dreyfus, said the international would not be satisfied propping up AWB if the exporter retained the national monopoly.

Robert Green, a spokesman for the US multinational Cargill, said yesterday: "Cargill is a major trader of wheat on a global scale and if we are asked to participate we certainly believe we could play a part."

GrainCorp, CBH and ABB did not comment last night.
Additional reporting: Cath Hart

Link Here

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PM, AWB in crisis talks
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Gag stays on AWB answers
Iraq may look for non-AWB wheat
Iraq asked to reconsider on wheat
AWB scandal boosts Labor's chances
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