The Australian Democrats will subpoena former defence minister Peter Reith to appear before a Senate Committee into the children overboard scandal enveloping the federal government.

Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja today denied claims by the Prime Minister the Senate committee was politically motivated, saying it was the only way to flesh out debate and resolve uncertainty surrounding the issue.

``The motivation for this committee is to get to the truth,'' she told reporters in Sydney this afternoon.

``The comments that we have heard in the last 24 hours from various players in the saga, including the former defence minister and the Prime Minister (John Howard) mean that we are even more determined to subpoena witnesses including the former defence minister Peter Reith.''

Mr Reith was not told to go on radio and publicly clarify his position on the children overboard affair, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

On Melbourne radio this morning Mr Reith denied a report in today's Australian newspaper that he had not spoken to the Prime Minister about the matter on November 7.

Mr Howard said he was ``not surprised'' by Mr Reith's comments this morning but denied he asked him to go public.

``No, I didn't ask Mr Reith to go public, he did that of his own volition,'' Mr Howard said. ``It's no surprise to me he repudiates the story in The Australian this morning, of course Mr Reith spoke to me.

Mr Howard was talking to reporters after meeting New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark at his Sydney offices this morning.

The Sydney Morning Herald