Sydney, Oct 05: Australian Prime Minister John Howard today said he wasn't upset by reports that he was erroneously referred to by the name of a former British Prime Minister in White House briefing notes for US journalists. Australian media reported last week that in notes for journalists set to accompany US President George W Bush on his Asian tour this month, the White House mistakenly refers to Howard as John Major.

``I don't get perturbed about it,'' Howard told Australia's Nine network television.

``Some of the White House team are pretty good at that, there's a long history of them getting the names of Australian Prime Ministers wrong and this is not the first mob to have done it,'' he said. A spokesman contacted at the US consulate in Sydney last week declined to comment on the media reports about the Gaffe. The consulate was closed today and officials could not be reached for comment.

Howard said he didn't blame the mistake on his close ally Bush who is set to address a special joint session of Australia's Parliament on October 23 after attending a summit of Asian-Pacific leaders in Thailand.

Bureau Report