PRIME Minister John Howard has backed Community Services Minister John Cobb as he fought claims he said he would institutionalise any disabled child he fathered.

Disability groups and Labor today demanded Mr Cobb be sacked amid a furore over allegations he told a meeting of disability advocacy groups last month that if he had a disabled child he would send it to live in an institution.

But Mr Cobb, a father of seven, has strenuously rejected the claims, saying his comments were misconstrued.

He was "damned upset'' by the scandal over the meeting and insisted that all he had said was that he was unsure how he would deal with the pressures of looking after disabled children.

"I did not say 'If I had a child with disabilities I would put it into an institution','' Mr Cobb told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"I certainly did not say I would get rid of it, I wouldn't dream of saying a thing like that.''

Mr Howard threw his support behind his embattled minister, saying he accepted Mr Cobb's explanation about what he told the disability groups.

"Mr Cobb has carefully explained what happened and I support his explanation.

"I accept it, and I don't believe for a moment that Mr Cobb, who I know well and respect, would mean any insensitivity towards people with disabilities and handicaps,'' Mr Howard said.

"He was explaining the context in which the remarks were made and I am completely satisfied with that explanation.''

Opposition disabilities spokeswoman Jan McLucas said Mr Cobb deserved to be sacked because he was insensitive to disabled people.

"Instead of defending this incompetent minister, John Howard should either ask him to resign or sack him today,'' she said.

People with Disability Australia president Heidi Forrest, who was at the meeting in Canberra with Mr Cobb, stood by the allegations about what the minister told the disability groups.

"What he said to us was that he's a family man and if he had a disability in his family, that he would put them in the home because (otherwise) it would bring down the family or cause family breakdowns,'' she told ABC Radio.

"Our major concern from that was not only because it was horrific and distressing because as a person with a disability it made me feel like I'm a worthless burden.

"But it also made me feel like that as a parent I'm not doing the right thing, I should have put my son in a home rather than love him and try to do the best that I can.''

Queensland Advocacy chief Kevin Cocks, who also attended the meeting, told The Australian newspaper Mr Cobb said "if he had a child with a disability and it was going to cause stress he would get rid of it''.

"He said he had lots of children in his family and if he had a child that would cause stress he would get rid of it - they were his words,'' Mr Cocks said.

Source: The Townsville Bulletin