Australian PM blasts broadcaster for showing lesbian life on children's TV


SYDNEY : Australian Prime Minister John Howard lashed out at the national broadcaster for screening a children's television show depicting a lesbian couple as a reflection of the diversity of family life.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation's popular "Play School" program sparked a storm here last Monday by airing the story of a girl called Brenna going to a fair with her two "mothers".

"This is just a very foolish thing for the ABC to do," Howard told rival broadcaster Channel Nine in an interview screened on Sunday. "This is an example of the ABC running an agenda in a children's program."

Howard, who has been in the United States and Europe since the row began, said in the interview filmed in Britain that if the ABC wanted to debate the issue, it should have done so on its current affairs shows and not Play School.