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Nearly seven-in-ten Australians (68%) are aware of the Royal Commission into AWB Ltd.’s dealings with the Iraqi Government under the United Nations oil-for-food program, while 32% are not aware of the Royal Commission, the latest Morgan Poll finds.

Respondents were told: “Next about the Royal Commission into AWB Ltd.’s (formerly the Australian Wheat Board) dealings with the Iraqi Government under the United Nations oil-for-food program.  Are you aware of the Royal commission or not?”

They were then asked:  “In your opinion, did AWB Ltd. act ethically in their negotiations to sell wheat to the Iraqi Government, or not?”

Half of all Australians (50%) believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically in their negotiations to sell wheat to the Iraqi Government, only 12% believing they acted ethically and a large 38% unable to say.

Of those Australians who are aware of the Royal Commission, 64% believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically in their negotiations to sell wheat to the Iraqi Government, while 13% believe they acted ethically and 23% can’t say.

Gary Morgan says:

“The Royal Commission into AWB Ltd.’s dealings with the Iraqi Government under the United Nations oil-for-food program has the potential to be devastating for the Government.  Further evidence should determine the extent of the Government’s involvement.”

Of those who believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically, many were concerned that the money was used to fund Saddam Hussein’s regime, with comments such as: “They were paying Saddam Hussein money — they gave him money to purchase guns and bombs”, “On one hand we were talking about how bad Saddam Hussein was and on the other we were giving his regime money!  It doesn’t make sense and seems very unethical”, “You can’t fund an army and then declare war on it!”, “It doesn’t seem like the right thing to do, to trade with people who are killing people”, “In my opinion, any dealings with the Iraqi Government would be rather dubious given the climate”, “They funneled money off to Saddam Hussein and they knew where it was going”, “Because anyone with honesty would not be selling wheat in the back doorway to such a corrupt regime” and “The money ended up in the hands of someone who became an enemy”.

Others commented that paying bribes is underhanded and immoral, saying:  “If they are doing something not good for the rest of the world it is not right.  A moral as well as a legal issue”, “Because if you have to buy another nation to get a deal then it is a bribe and is very wrong”, “I’m definitely against payment for services rendered or bribes.  It’s done in Asian countries where there is bribery and corruption, but it’s not to be done in our own country”, “Because they were offering bribes — even though everyone does that it does not make it ethical” and “It’s underhanded and deceptive.  It is unethical making money out of other people’s hardship”.

Of the small number of Australians who think AWB Ltd. acted ethically, many commented that corruption is widespread in Iraq and to be competitive, companies need to participate: “Because they are all doing it and have always had to pay kickbacks to stay in business”, “If they could have done something different they would have.  That’s the way they do things over there”, “It’s an accepted way of doing business in such countries and it was done to support another Australian company and the wheat farmers of Australia”, “That’s the way business is done.  You sometimes need to sweeten the pie to get the business” and “Graft is a way of life over there.  If you aren’t prepared to grease someone’s palms over there you would be out of business.  They acted the only way they could under the circumstances”.

This special telephone Morgan Poll was conducted on the evenings of February 1-2, 2006, with an Australia-wide sample of 670 respondents aged 14 and over.                         

For further information:

Gary Morgan:       Office (03) 9224 5213         Mobile 0411 129 094       Home (03) 9419 3242

Michele Levine:   Office (03) 9224 5215         Mobile 0411 129 093       Home (03) 9817 3066

Are You Aware Of The Royal Commission Into The AWB’s Dealings With The Iraqi Government?

Respondents were first asked:  "Next about the Royal Commission into AWB Ltd.’s (formerly the Australian Wheat Board) dealings with the Iraqi Government under the United Nations oil-for-food program.  Are you aware of the Royal commission or not?”

Men were more likely than women (73% cf 63%) to be aware of the Royal Commission into AWB Ltd.’s dealings with the Iraqi Government under the United Nations oil-for-food program.  Analysis by age shows that Australians aged over 50 were the most likely (85%) to be aware of the Royal Commission.

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	1-2 Feb 2006	Men	Women	14-17#	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes, aware	68	73	63	15	37	65	73	85
No, not aware	32	27	37	85	63	35	27	15
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

People living in capital cities were more likely that those in country areas (69% cf 66%) to be aware of the Royal Commission.  On a state-by-state basis, People from New South Wales were more likely (72%) to be aware of the Royal Commission, with Queenslanders the least likely (61%).

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Region and State
	1-2 Feb 2006	Capital Cities	Country Areas	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA/NT	WA	Tas
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes, aware	68	69	66	72	67	61	70	69	69
No, not aware	32	31	34	28	33	39	30	31	31
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

Analysis by voting intention shows that Greens supporters were the most likely (86%) to be aware of the Royal Commission, with Australian Democrats supporters the least likely (58%) to be aware.

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Federal Voting Intention
	1-2 Feb 2006	L-NP	ALP	Aust. Dems#	The Greens	One Nation#	Family First#	Ind/ Other#	No Answer
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes, aware	68	72	76	58	86	74	77	86	30
No, not aware	32	28	24	42	14	26	23	14	70
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

Did AWB Ltd. Act Ethically In Their Negotiations To Sell Wheat To The Iraqi Government?

Respondents were then asked:  " In your opinion, did AWB Ltd. act ethically in their negotiations to sell wheat to the Iraqi Government, or not?”

Men were more likely (55%) than women (45%) to believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically in their negotiations to sell wheat to the Iraqi Government.  Analysis by age shows that those aged over 50 were the most likely (56%) to believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically.

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	1-2 Feb 2006	Men	Women	14-17#	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes acted ethically	12	15	9	9	12	10	10	15
No, did not act ethically	50	55	45	33	36	44	54	56
Can’t say	38	30	46	58	52	46	36	29
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

On a state by state basis, people in New South Wales were the most likely (55%) and Queenslanders the least likely (43%) to believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically.

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Region and State
	1-2 Feb 2006	Capital Cities	Country Areas	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA/NT	WA	Tas
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes acted ethically	12	12	13	10	15	17	4	10	11
No, did not act ethically	50	51	47	55	49	43	51	46	50
Can’t say	38	37	40	35	36	40	45	44	39
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

 Analysis by voting intention shows that Greens supporters were the most likely (77%) to believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically, whilst Family First supporters were the least likely (33%) to believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically.

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Federal Voting Intention
	1-2 Feb 2006	L-NP	ALP	Aust. Dems#	The Greens	One Nation#	Family First#	Ind/ Other#	No Answer#
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes acted ethically	12	17	6	8	13	-	10	9	16
No, did not act ethically	50	41	62	58	77	74	33	66	28
Can’t say	38	42	32	34	10	26	57	25	56
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

Australians who were aware of the Royal Commission were more likely to believe AWB Ltd. did not act ethically than those who were not aware (64% cf 19%).

	Total All People 14+	Analysis by Whether Aware Of The Royal Commission
	1-2 Feb 2006	Aware	Not Aware
	%	%	%
Yes acted ethically	12	13	11
No, did not act ethically	50	64	19
Can’t say	38	23	70
Total	100	100	100

The above tables show Australians’ attitudes towards AWB Ltd’s dealings with the Iraqi Government under the United Nations oil-for-food program, analysed by Sex, Age, Region, State and Federal Voting Intention.

The complete analysis of results by demographics and regions is available on subscription.

The Morgan Poll is conducted by the ONLY Australian member of the Gallup International Association.

No Other public opinion poll taken in Australia has this qualification.

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