Government News Index
I've done nothing wrong, says PM
AAP
Prime Minister John Howard has defended his handling of Senator Bill Heffernan's claims about High Court judge Michael Kirby, saying he had always acted appropriately.
Labor has called on Mr Howard to explain his role in the affair but the Prime Minister said he had not approved the attack and had acted appropriately in leaving Senator Heffernan's evidence to the police.
"I'm not a detective, I don't run an investigations service," Mr Howard told ABC radio from London.
"I had to deal with the situation from day to day, as known to me, and I handled it entirely appropriately at every time."
Mr Howard said although he had asked Senator Heffernan to resign as Cabinet Secretary, he still regarded him as a friend.
"In personal relations you don't dump people because they make mistakes," he said.
"Now he's made a big mistake but it doesn't alter the fact that I still regard him as a friend and I'm not a person who sheds friends on the basis of them making mistakes.
"We'd all be pretty lonely if that was the philosophy we brought to our friendships."
Labor and the Australian Democrats have demanded Senator Heffernan be forced to resign from Parliament.
But Mr Howard said that was not necessary.
"I said right at the beginning that he would be accountable in relation to what he said, the implication clearly being that if he got it wrong, he would pay a price. He did get it wrong and he has paid a price."
Canberra Times