Down with Big Brother, says Australia's PM

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is watching Big Brother. And he doesn't like what he sees.

Howard on Monday called for Channel 10, which airs Australia's versionof the international realitytelevision program, to cancel the show after allegations emerged that two male contestants sexually assaulted a female contestant.

Howard's centre-right Liberal government has referred the show to Australia's television standards watchdog, according to the office of Communications Minister Helen Coonan.

On Sunday's broadcastof Big Brother, a series in which strangers live together and compete for cash prizes, a 22-year-old female contestant was shown telling her housemates thata male contestant held her down whileanother rubbed his penis in her face.

Network and program producers issued a statement Monday supporting the show.

"Big Brother is very popular, as evidenced by the strong and broad audiences it draws every night of the week, and will remain on air," the statement said.

Woman downplays incident

Footage of the alleged incident, which was seen on the show's live internet stream but did not make it to television, was sent to police.

The three people involved were questioned, but the woman did not file a formal complaint and no further action was planned, Queensland state police said in a statement.

In a statement Monday, the woman involved later downplayed theactions of the two men.

"There was no malice intended," she said. "They were doing it in a playful way."

Bothmen have been booted from the show, but Howard wants Channel 10 to go one step further and yank Big Brother. Critics have long blasted the show for indecency and condoning inappropriate sexual behaviour, such as an incident last year when a man rubbed his penis into the hair of a female housemate.

"I don't like heavy-handed regulation. The business community is always saying to me, 'Let us self-regulate,'" Howard told Sydney Radio 2GB.

"Well, here's a great opportunity for Channel 10 to do a bit of self-regulation and get this stupid program off the air."

Opposition wants show yanked

Australia's opposition Labour party also weighed in Monday, arguing Channel 10 shouldn't profit from the publicity surrounding the allegations, and should donate advertising revenue and the show's prize money to Australia's Centre Against Sexual Assault.

Labour communications spokesman Senator Stephen Conroy concurred with Howard in calling for Big Brother to be pulled from the air.

"What we've seen in this show is now not just one incident, but a second incident on the back of last year's shows, which encourage demeaning and potentially criminal conduct against women in the Big Brother house," Conroysaid.

"This is utterly unacceptable and harsh measures are necessary."

Meanwhile, Queensland opposition leader Lawrence Springborg called for the state to stop subsidizing the show, which Premier Peter Beattie said receivesincentivesfor providinglocal television jobs.

"To put tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars into a highly profitable, questionable television program that in many ways probably brings out the worst in people, I think is a real waste of taxpayers' money," Springborg said.