Fed: Scrafton to appear at inquiry tomorrow

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2004
Fed: Scrafton to appear at inquiry tomorrow

CANBERRA, Aug 31 AAP - Former ministerial staffer Mike Scrafton today confirmed he
would give evidence tomorrow at a new inquiry into the children overboard affair.

The Senate yesterday agreed to set up a select committee to probe conversations Mr
Scrafton had with Prime Minister John Howard about whether asylum seekers threw children
off a boat in late 2001.

The alleged incident, which a parliamentary inquiry later found had no factual basis,
was used by the government alongside its tough stance on border protection to win the
2001 election.

Mr Scrafton has said he told Mr Howard three days before the 2001 poll that there were
no substance to the claims.

The committee will sit at parliament house from 9am, with Mr Scrafton as the first witness.

The committee will also hear from Major General Roger Powell, who conducted the original
review into Defence's handling of the children overboard affair, who has said Mr Scrafton
told him the prime minister should have been in no doubt that the incident never occurred.

Other witnesses have yet to be confirmed.

The inquiry is expected to report in November.

AAP pjo/sw/cjh/jlw

KEYWORD: OVERBOARD SCRAFTON

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