Asylum seekers threw their children overboard
| Asylum seekers threw their children overboard | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "In October 2001, asylum seekers on a boat intercepted by the Australian Navy threw their children into the sea to force their rescue and entry to Australia." | |
| Domain | Immigration & Migration |
| Tactic | Fabrication Propaganda Technique |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2001 |
| Origin | Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock and Prime Minister John Howard, October 7–8, 2001, during a federal election campaign |
| Last reviewed | 2026-11-01 |
| Further reading: books on Immigration & Migration | |
On October 7, 2001, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock announced that people on an asylum seeker boat intercepted by HMAS Adelaide had thrown children overboard. Prime Minister John Howard repeated the claim, saying, "I don't want people of that type in Australia." Photographs of children in the water were released as evidence.
No children had been thrown overboard. The photographs were taken the next day, when the boat was sinking and its passengers were being rescued.
What the evidence shows
- Senate inquiry. The Senate Select Committee on a Certain Maritime Incident reported in October 2002 that no children were thrown overboard and that the photographs were misrepresented.
- Navy warnings. The inquiry found that Navy officers had told the government within days that the claim was unsupported, but the correction did not reach the public before the November 10, 2001, election.
- Election. Howard's government won the election, held amid intense debate about asylum seekers after the Tampa affair and the September 11 attacks.
Why it matters
A false claim about migrants, reinforced by misused photographs, became part of an election campaign. The case is still cited in Australia as a warning about political misuse of evidence.
Sources
- Senate Select Committee on a Certain Maritime Incident, Report, Parliament of Australia, October 2002.
- Patrick Weller, Don't Tell the Prime Minister, Scribe, 2002.
- ABC News (Australia), coverage of the "children overboard" affair, 2001–2002.