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Aide reveals children overboard advice
A former federal ministerial adviser has revealed that he told Prime Minister John Howard before the 2001 federal election that no children had been thrown overboard from a boat carrying asylum seekers in Australian waters.
Mike Scrafton, an adviser to then-defence minister Peter Reith, has written a letter to The Australian newspaper saying he had three telephone conversations with Mr Howard on November 7, 2001.
Mr Scrafton says he told the Prime Minister that a tape of the incident "certainly didn't support the proposition that the event had occurred".
He says he told Mr Howard "that no-one in defence that I had dealt with on the matter still believed any children were thrown overboard".
The adviser says he also told the PM that photographs released during the debate were not of children thrown into the water.
Mr Scrafton says he passed on the advice in three conversations with Mr Howard on the evening of November 7.
"During the last conversation, the Prime Minister asked me how it was that he had a report from the Office of National Assessments (ONA) confirming the children overboard incident," he said.
"I replied that I had gained the impression that the report had as its source the public statements of the then minister for immigration, Philip Ruddock."
Denial
But Mr Howard denies he was conclusively told before the election that the event did not happen.
A spokesman for Mr Howard says Mr Scrafton told him during two conversations that the video was inconclusive.
But he denies Mr Scrafton made any reference to the photographs or that no-one in defence believed the children overboard claims.
The spokesman also says Mr Scrafton made no mention of those two issues in a written statement presented to a Senate committee.
The day after Mr Scrafton says he spoke to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard told the National Press Club that his public statements on the issue were based on advice from his ministers.
He also quoted from the ONA report without revealing any advice from Mr Scrafton.
"On the 9th of October, I received an ONA report that read in part as follows: Asylum seekers wearing life-jackets jumped into the sea and children were thrown in with them," Mr Howard told the press club.
Another day later, the day before the election, Mr Howard told ABC Radio's PM program: "It seems to me that if it were definitely wrong, somebody from the Navy would have got in touch with my office or Reith's office or Ruddock's office some weeks ago and said, 'look fellas, it's up to you how you make this known but you should be aware that those original reports were wrong'."
Mr Scrafton says he did not testify to a Senate inquiry into the children overboard affair because he was not subpoenaed and because he was told cabinet had directed him not to appear.
Aide reveals children overboard advice
A former federal ministerial adviser has revealed that he told Prime Minister John Howard before the 2001 federal election that no children had been thrown overboard from a boat carrying asylum seekers in Australian waters.
Mike Scrafton, an adviser to then-defence minister Peter Reith, has written a letter to The Australian newspaper saying he had three telephone conversations with Mr Howard on November 7, 2001.
Mr Scrafton says he told the Prime Minister that a tape of the incident "certainly didn't support the proposition that the event had occurred".
He says he told Mr Howard "that no-one in defence that I had dealt with on the matter still believed any children were thrown overboard".
The adviser says he also told the PM that photographs released during the debate were not of children thrown into the water.
Mr Scrafton says he passed on the advice in three conversations with Mr Howard on the evening of November 7.
"During the last conversation, the Prime Minister asked me how it was that he had a report from the Office of National Assessments (ONA) confirming the children overboard incident," he said.
"I replied that I had gained the impression that the report had as its source the public statements of the then minister for immigration, Philip Ruddock."
Denial
But Mr Howard denies he was conclusively told before the election that the event did not happen.
A spokesman for Mr Howard says Mr Scrafton told him during two conversations that the video was inconclusive.
But he denies Mr Scrafton made any reference to the photographs or that no-one in defence believed the children overboard claims.
The spokesman also says Mr Scrafton made no mention of those two issues in a written statement presented to a Senate committee.
The day after Mr Scrafton says he spoke to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard told the National Press Club that his public statements on the issue were based on advice from his ministers.
He also quoted from the ONA report without revealing any advice from Mr Scrafton.
"On the 9th of October, I received an ONA report that read in part as follows: Asylum seekers wearing life-jackets jumped into the sea and children were thrown in with them," Mr Howard told the press club.
Another day later, the day before the election, Mr Howard told ABC Radio's PM program: "It seems to me that if it were definitely wrong, somebody from the Navy would have got in touch with my office or Reith's office or Ruddock's office some weeks ago and said, 'look fellas, it's up to you how you make this known but you should be aware that those original reports were wrong'."
Mr Scrafton says he did not testify to a Senate inquiry into the children overboard affair because he was not subpoenaed and because he was told cabinet had directed him not to appear.
