Details of asylum seeker death 'still not known'

The federal government says it still doesn't know how an asylum seeker received fatal injuries during unrest at the Manus Island detention centre.

Pro-refugee protestors outside the Immigration Department building in Brisbane - AAP-1.jpg

(Transcript from World News Radio)

The federal government says it still doesn't know how an asylum seeker received fatal injuries during unrest at the Manus Island detention centre on Monday night.

It says Australian and Papua New Guinea authorities are still investigating the unrest, in which dozens of other asylum seekers were injured, some seriously.

Santilla Chingaipe has more.

(Click on audio tab above to listen to this item)

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday the Iranian man killed at the Manus Island detention centre had a severe head wound.

He says he's received no further information on the circumstances of how the man was wounded, and he can't even say whether the man was inside or outside the centre at the time.

The Minister adds that the situation has started to return to normal at the Manus centre, which houses about 1300 asylum seekers.

But Mr Morrison says Australia is sending more than 50 extra security staff, as well as the head of Operation Sovereign Borders, General Angus Campbell.

He says the Australian government and the PNG governments are conducting separate inquiries into the unrest.

"My Department Secretary, Mr (Martin) Bowles, will initiate a full review into this incident in the same way such reviews were commissioned after previous incidents by the former government in Nauru and other places. That same process as was applied in those circumstances will be applied in this situation. Regarding police investigations or coronial enquiries - these are matters for the Papua New Guinean Government as the Prime Minister, Mr (Peter) O'Neill made very clear and as is appropriate as these things occurred within their jurisdiction. We will be liaising with them closely through the Attorney-General to provide any support or assistance as requested and to remain updated on the progress of these investigations which they will conduct."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it's concerned about the unrest at Manus.

UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch says the asylum seekers being transferred to Manus by Australia must be adequately protected.

"We are in discussions with the Australian government and welcome their commitment to investigate these events. Based on the three visits to Manus Island, the latest happening in November 2013, we have constantly raised issues around the transfer arrangements and on the absence of adequate protection standards and safeguards for asylum seekers and refugees in Papua New Guinea."

The federal opposition says a broad inquiry into the violence at the Manus Island centre needs to be carried out in cooperation with PNG.

Immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the review announced by Scott Morrison doesn't go far enough.

"We need to understand exactly what has happened we need to understand why the Manus Island detention facility is melting down under Minister Morrison's watch. This is a facility which operated under the Gillard and Rudd governments. In a different guise, it operated under the Howard government. We need to understand what the Abbott government is doing wrong such that it is not functioning properly now and it has to be an inquiry at arms length and it has to be a total inquiry."

However, speaking to Sky News, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed suggestions the review is not independent.

"The inquiry that I've asked the Department Secretary to instigate is an independent inquiry in the same way an independent inquiry was conducted after the Nauru fire where that was burnt to the ground and similarly the Christmas Island and Villawood riots where those facilities were burnt to the ground. It has the same breadth of ocverage as those inquiries have had so I'm a little puzzled what on earth the opposition spokesman is going on about. It's the same, effectively terms of reference that we put in place as they (Labor) put in place for the incidents that occurred on their watch."

The President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, says the government needs to establish a formal oversight body for Australia's overseas detention facilities.

She told the ABC, this was recommended by the expert panel on asylum seekers set up by the former Gillard government.

"When you have a panel of that kind, they would have access to, presumably it's facilitated access with the two sovereign countries concerned, Nauru and Papua New Guinea and you would have greater access to information. Of course, Amnesty International, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and others have had access, but I think that a regular monitoring body of respected professionals in the area would carry considerable credibility and would keep us all better informed."

 

 


5 min read

Published

Updated

By Santilla Chingaipe

Source: World News Australia


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