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The Children Overboard affair was an Australian political controversy. In October 2001, during the lead-up to a federal election, the Australian government claimed on several occasions that asylum seekers on a “Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel” (SIEV), intercepted by HMAS Adelaide off Christmas Island, had thrown a number of children overboard, in a presumed ploy by the passengers to secure rescue and passage. The vessel, designated SIEV 4, was believed to be operated by people smugglers.

The claim was first made by then Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock on 7 October 2001, the day before writs for the federal election were issued. It was later repeated by senior Government ministers, including Defence Minister Peter Reith and Prime Minister John Howard. With the election campaign underway, political analysts believe that the children overboard affair worked in favour of the incumbent Coalition government. The Coalition was depicted as favouring strong border protection measures, while the opposition Labor Party was conversely depicted as "weak" on this issue.

After the Liberal-National Coalition won the federal election, an inquiry by a Senate select committee found that not only was the "Children Overboard" claim untrue, but that the government knew it to be untrue prior to the election. The Government attracted criticism that it had misled the public and fomented mistrust of asylum seekers by portraying them as people using unscrupulous means to gain illegal entry into Australia.

Background

The incident occurred two months after the Tampa incident, where a Norwegian container ship had rescued Afghan asylum seekers and sought to drop them off in Indonesia before being forced to turn towards Australia by the illegals. This series of events became the catalyst for the adoption by the Howard government of a more strict border protection regime, the stated purpose of which was to prevent unauthorised arrivals from reaching Australia by boat.

In the lead up to the children overboard affair the government had public support for this regime, and the incident may have helped boost this support. The children overboard affair subsequently spawned many investigative journalist reports and several books.

Senate inquiry and findings

The Senate inquiry found that no children were thrown from SIEV 4. Evidence obtained by the committee revealed that the claim regarding children being thrown overboard was untrue.

The pictures which had been purported to show that children had been thrown into the sea were taken during a rescue after SIEV 4 had been sunk by the illegals on board. When this was discovered, Howard stated that he was acting on the intelligence he was given at the time. It was later revealed that Howard had been informed on 7 November that the claim was false. On 26 February 2006 Howard said,

"They irresponsibly sank the damn boat, which put their children in the water".

The Senate inquiry found that passengers aboard other SIEVs had threatened children, sabotaged their own vessels, committed self-harm, and, in the case of SIEV-7 on 22 October, a child had been thrown overboard and rescued by another asylum seeker.

Scrafton and the reopened inquiry

In August 2004, Michael Scrafton, who had been a senior advisor to Peter Reith, came forward to say that before John Howard confirmed that children had indeed been thrown overboard, he had been informed that this claim was false. On 14 February 2006 Peter Reith said "It was not raised with me as to whether or not children had been thrown overboard, and in fact some weeks later, I was still under the impression that there was no question that children were thrown overboard.....no report was given to me."

Although the Senate enquiry was reopened, Scrafton's claims were criticised. In particular, Scrafton claimed that he and Howard had spoken three times on the telephone, but telephone records showed that they spoke twice.

Scrafton's revelations and the reopening of the inquiry occurred close to the announcement of the 2004 Federal election. The children overboard affair received widespread coverage and discussion within political and media circles and was made a central part of the Australian Labor Party's election campaign.

The Howard re-election campaign focused heavily on "trust" in the election. The election saw Howard returned to power, increasing his lower house majority, and gaining a majority in the Senate.

References

1. | Election Dates (1901 to Present) - House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Commission
2. http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/maritime_incident_ctte/report/f04.htm

External links

• Main report of the Australian Senate select committee into a certain maritime incident
• About 45 leaked Australian NAVY photographs of the kids overboard, being rescued by the sailors
• Media releases by John Howard on the Scrafton claims
• Truth Overboard — political website maintained by the Australian Labor Party.
• Senate Select Committee on the Scrafton Evidence
• "Scrafton and Howard locked in dispute over children overboard" (transcript), by Matt Brown: The World Today (ABC Local Radio), 1 September 2004.
• "Indifference can be dangerous", by Shaun Carney: Sydney Morning Herald, 8 April 2002.

• 2001 in Australia
• Australian political controversies
• International maritime incidents