The Manus Regional Processing Centre on Los Negros Island. Credit:Andrew Meares "This is not going to be an inquiry that is rushed, can be spun by politicians to suit their aims or can be chewed up in the media cycle in 24 hours." Mr Walsh said the firm sought to amend the claim after the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruled in April that the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island was illegal and in breach of PNG's constitution. "We argued, and Justice McDonald accepted, that in light of the PNG ruling, our clients should be given the opportunity to argue their detention amounts to false imprisonment and to seek additional damages on that basis." Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was in Port Moresby on Wednesday to discuss PNG's decision in April to close down the Manus detention centre in the light of the PNG court's ruling, though the fate of the detainees remains uncertain.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg More than 850 asylum seekers remain in the centre, some four months after the court decision. "Both Papua New Guinea and Australia are in agreement that the centre is to be closed," PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said after meeting with Mr Dutton. The talks came as 180 senior Catholic sisters endorsed the call from academics for refugees for a summit to discuss new approaches to the treatment of asylum seekers. Malcolm Turnbull is yet to respond to the call. The class action, to be heard early next year, promises to be the most forensic examination yet of the treatment of around 1800 asylum seekers who were sent to the island after it was re-opened by the Gillard government late in 2012. It has been brought in the name of an Iranian asylum seeker who was transferred to Manus in September 2013, on behalf of almost all of those detained in the centre since it was re-opened. Sixty-one asylum seekers have opted not to be part of the action.

The Iranian, Majid Karami Kamasaee, suffered serious burns in Tehran as a teenager and maintains his condition was aggravated by the hot and humid conditions in detention and the lack of appropriate care. He was a victim of the violence at the centre in February 2014, when Reza Barati was murdered, and continues to suffer mental trauma. The class action was set to begin this month but has been postponed, in large part because the Commonwealth opposed the release of many hundreds of documents, primarily on grounds that their release would not be in the national interest or could harm bilateral relations with PNG. The Commonwealth has warned that the case could represent the largest public interest immunity challenge in Australian legal history. "We are challenging these claims as we don't accept that the Commonwealth has the legal basis to withhold these documents from scrutiny in this litigation, on the present evidence available, and in light of the likely significance of this material to the central issues in the dispute." Mr Walsh said. "It is our case that the Commonwealth and its service providers have failed in their duty to prevent foreseeable harm to the men held on Manus Island and that the detainees are entitled to be compensated for their injuries.

Loading "Further we allege that the Commonwealth deliberately held our clients in conditions which they knew were harmful, both as a means to coerce our clients to return to the countries from which they fled seeking refuge, but also to deter others from seeking refuge in a similar manner." Mr Walsh said Slater and Gordon is running the class action on a "No-win, No–fee" basis. If successful, the firm will seek to recover costs from the defendants.