Australian PM happy Freeman carried Aboriginal flag

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Tuesday it was "terrific" that Cathy Freeman carried the Aboriginal flag after her 400 metre Olympic triumph.

"I've never had any qualms about that, she's proud of her Aboriginality and she's proud of being an Australian," he said.

"I think that's terrific," he told ABC radio.

Freeman, a role model for Australia's indigenous people in their fight for equal rights, has in the past rebuked Howard for what she called his "insensitivity" in refusing to apologise for the treatment of a people who have been here for 40,000 years.

She took to the track after her big win wrapped in an Australian and an Aboriginal flag.

Howard said that carrying both flags "was a perfectly natural thing to do, and I don't think anyone would be in the least concerned about it."

Six years ago, Freeman was given a dressing down by Commonwealth Games boss Arthurt Turnstall for carrying an Aboriginal flag during a victory lap in Canada.

But Howard went out of his way to hail the triumph of Freeman who also lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.

"She's a role model to young Australians, Aboriginal Australians and other Australians. And I think everybody is extremely happy, and what these Games have done is to dissolve differences and bring Australians closer together," he said.

Australia's Aborigines are the most disadvantaged group in the country with a life expectancy 20 years less than other Australians.

The original inhabitants of Australia now make up just 2.3 percent of Australia's population of 19 million.

- REUTERS