Editing Children Overboard affair (section)

{{Short description|2001 Australian political controversy}}
{{See also|2001 Australian federal election}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}

The '''Children Overboard affair''' was an Australian [[political controversy]] involving public allegations by [[Howard government]] ministers in the lead-up to the [[2001 Australian federal election|2001 federal election]], that seafaring [[asylum seeker]]s had thrown children overboard in a presumed ploy to secure rescue and passage on 7 October 2001.

The government's handling of this and other events involving [[unauthorised arrival]]s worked to its advantage. The [[Tampa affair|''Tampa'' affair]] had led the government to adopt stricter [[border control|border protection]] measures to prevent unauthorised arrivals from reaching Australia by boat. Polls indicated the measures had public support. The government was able to portray itself as "strong" on border protection measures and its opponents as "weak". In November 2001, the [[Coalition (Australia)|Liberal-National coalition]] was re-elected with an increased majority.

The [[Australian Senate]] ''[[Australian Senate committees|Select Committee]] for an inquiry into a certain maritime incident'' later found that no children had been at risk of being thrown overboard and that the government had known this prior to the election. The government was criticised for misleading the public and cynically "(exploiting) voters' fears of a wave of illegal immigrants by demonising asylum-seekers".<ref name='TheAge_Hawke2004'>{{ cite news
 | url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/24/1093246520431.html?from=storylhs
 | title=Children overboard the most despicable of lies: Hawke
 | author=Kim Arlington
 | work=The Age
 | publisher=Fairfax
 | date=24 August 2004
}}</ref><ref name='TheAust_MegalFeb2006'/>

Although reports indicated that the strain of being towed was the [[Proximate and ultimate causation|proximate cause]] of the asylum seeker boat eventually sinking,<ref name='SMH20060228_MarrTruthOverboard'>{{ cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/truth-overboard--the-story-that-wont-go-away/2006/02/27/1141020023654.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 | title=Truth overboard : the story that won't go away | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | publisher=Fairfax| author=David Marr|author-link=David Marr (journalist) | date=28 February 2006}}</ref> [[Australian Prime Minister]] [[John Howard]] asserted that the asylum seekers "irresponsibly sank the damn boat, which put their children in the water".<ref name='TheAust_MegalFeb2006'>{{ cite news| url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C10117%2C18282114-28097%2C00.html| title=They sank the boat, Howard says| author=George Megalogenis| author-link=George Megalogenis| work=The Australian| date=27 February 2006| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060313072341/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C10117%2C18282114-28097%2C00.html| archivedate=13 March 2006| df=dmy-all}}</ref>