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Apology sought from Prime Minister

Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, is being urged to apologise for incorrectly claiming asylum seekers threw their children overboard last October.

With the government now declaring the incident never happened, the Defence Minister Robert Hill says he regrets if parents of children on board the vessel were offended by the incorrect information given to the Government.

The Director of the Catholic welfare agency Centacare - Dale West - says it's pleasing to hear Senator Hill's statement .

But Mr West says John Howard should also apologise for the way he seized on the allegations, before they were thoroughly investigated ...

"Whilst the good senator has done the right thing in acknowledging that this may have done some harm to the people directly involved, there needs to be a wider recognition by government that this really is just one of the many symptoms of their current policy in relation to people seeking asylum in this country .The Prime Minister is the one who needs to be apologising."

28/02/2002 21:29:59 | ABC Radio Australia News

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