HIV-positive people should be denied entry to Australia as migrants or refugees, Australian Prime Minister John Howard says. While saying he would like ‘more counsel' on the issue, Howard said HIV positive people should not be allowed to migrate to Australia. "My initial reaction is no (they should not be allowed in)," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting. "There may be some humanitarian considerations that could temper that in certain cases but prima facie - no." Howard said Australia already stopped people with tuberculosis coming in and this was why he supported stopping HIV-positive people as well. "That's why I say prima facie, my position is no - although there can be some circumstances where there may be a humanitarian reason and under certain conditions for that to occur, but generally speaking - no." Howard was commenting in response to new Victorian health department figures showing the number of HIV-positive people moving to the state had quadrupled in the past two years. He said he would look at changing the law to stop HIV-positive people coming to Australia. "I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide and I know the health minister (Tony Abbott) is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up and I think people are entitled to be concerned." Ref: Sydney Morning Herald