Deadly violence on Manus Island sparks call for royal commission
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Version 0 of 1. The Greens have called for a royal commission into the government’s offshore detention centres after a man was killed and almost 100 others injured during two nights of violence at Manus Island. The party also wants the government to “lift the gag” on Manus Island staff so they can speak about what they saw over the two nights. Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said a royal commission was the only way to ensure “a proper, rigorous, independent inquiry”. “We need to make sure it is an independent investigation and one that has the powers to shine a spotlight on the darkness of what has been going on in these centres,” Hanson-Young said. “They are under a cloud of secrecy because of the lack of media access, because of the various confidentiality agreements, because they are so out of sight, out of mind.” The royal commission should investigate the way the centres have operated since they were reopened by the Gillard government in 2012 amid changes to Australia’s Migration Act, and how current and previous governments responded to the numerous critical reports from human rights agencies and the UN which found the Australian policies breached international laws. “The Labor party has to accept that trying to justify business as usual at Manus Island is just morally corrupt and lacks the responsible analysis from what should be a rigorous opposition party in Australian politics,” Hanson-Young said. The most recent unrest on Manus Island should be among the many issues investigated by a royal commission, she said. “The mounting evidence coming out of the centre this week points to asylum seekers being attacked and being set upon, brutalised, and the minister is trying to deny that happened,” she said. Conflicting reports have emerged about exactly what happened on Sunday night and Monday night at the Manus Island detention centre. Initial statements from the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, said detainees breached perimeter fences after protests escalated on Sunday. Monday night’s “more serious” incident was also described as detainees breaching internal and external perimeter fences. However, detainees and workers on Manus Island disputed this, claiming locals and PNG authorities, including both police and the notorious mobile squads, attacked the asylum seekers with weapons. By the next morning, an Iranian man was dead, 13 people were seriously injured, including one detainee evacuated to Australia with a critical skull fracture and one flown to Port Moresby with a gunshot wound. Recent reports suggest the bullet one asylum seeker was shot with was from a large-calibre weapon, such as those used by police. On Thursday the Greens called for staff at Manus Island to be allowed to make their accounts of this week’s events public to clear up the huge inconsistencies in reports. “They have the eyewitness accounts of what’s gone on and currently they are not allowed to speak publicly because of their confidentiality agreements,” Hanson-Young said. “There is absolute consistency with the eyewitness accounts but they are being contradicted with the official line from the minister.” Manus Island MP Ron Knight told the Australian a “minority of continually aggressive asylum seekers began rioting and escaped. “They did OK until they ran into the mobile police unit, whose methods, though brutal, are effective,” he said. The mobile squads, paid for their security work around the detention centre by the Australian government, have been reported as thuggish paramilitary type forces, allegedly responsible for beatings, rapes and murders over decades. Hanson-Young said the Australian government had to take responsibility for any violence perpetrated by the mobile squads on the asylum seekers. “It is Australian taxpayer money that is funding the mobile police squad. We can’t pretend the government has no responsibility to take, they have total responsibility to take. It’s proven that these units are brutal.” Morrison has repeatedly said this week “the government’s resolve is absolute” and there will be no backing down from policies. At a press conference in Sydney on Thursday morning, prime minister Tony Abbott said the government “will not be deterred or intimidated by anyone when it comes to doing what we need to do to protect our borders”. “We will not succumb to pressure, to moral blackmail. We will ensure these camps are run fairly, and if necessary firmly.” Both the office of the minister for immigration and opposition spokesman Richard Marles were contacted. Neither responded. |