PM promises authorities will work with PNG police over the alleged sexual assault of a PNG woman by three Australian Wilson Security guards

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Australian authorities will cooperate with Papua New Guinean police investigating the alleged sexual assault of a Papua New Guinean woman by Australian Wilson Security guards at the asylum seeker detention centre on Manus Island, Tony Abbott has promised.



The prime minister was in Port Moresby on Thursday for the Pacific Islands Forum, at which he was asked about the alleged assault, after which the three accused Australian men were flown off the island, out of reach of PNG law.

Exclusive: woman allegedly raped in Manus detention centre accuses Transfield of cover-up Read more

He said Australia would cooperate with any PNG police investigation.

“There are due processes of law and they must be followed but crime is crime is crime. Where there are credible allegations, they must be investigated. Where there is strong evidence, it should be prosecuted. Where people have done the wrong thing, they should be convicted and punished. Obviously we continue to cooperate with the PNG authorities on this.”

Abbott said Australia was seeking to establish an agreement with PNG that would “embed” Australian federal police officers with the Royal Papua New Guinean Constabulary.

“At the moment our police have advisers rather than participants in policing here in PNG. We need to come up with an arrangement which makes them participants, not mere bystanders to actual operational policing in PNG.”

The issue of alleged Australian offenders being flown out of reach of PNG law has been controversial in Papua New Guinea.

PNG’s prime minister, Peter O’Neill, has publicly promised to raise the issue with Australian government officials and demanded an investigation into whoever allowed the men to leave.

On the night of 15 July, Transfield employee Sarah (not her real name) had been drinking with colleagues including three Wilson Security staff.

The last thing she remembers of the night is being given an unknown pill by a Wilson’s guard.

She woke up the next morning naked and disoriented in a shower block in the Wilson’s accommodation.

Her clothes were found in a Wilson guard’s room.

The men last seen with Sarah on the night were flown off Manus Island, and out of PNG, that morning.

Manus Police commander Nick N’Drasal has confirmed police were investigating attempted rape, indecent exposure and sexual assault.

In her only interview since the incident, Sarah told Guardian Australia she wanted answers from the men who knew what happened to her.

“I told Transfield management … if the guys were here, this could have been solved a long time ago,” she says. “They have the answers I want to know. This would have already been fixed.

“But once you start hiding people and sending them away, what are you covering up for?”



The incident has angered many on Manus Island, particularly Sarah’s family and the community on Los Negros Island where she lives, and where the detention centre is located.

Sarah’s father, accompanied by several other men from her village carrying machetes, forcibly seized control of two buses owned by Transfield – Sarah’s former employer and the detention centre manager – and demanded the men be returned.

They gave up the buses without incident after negotiations with police and Transfield management. Sarah told Guardian Australia her family had been promised the men would be returned to PNG for questioning, but the men remain outside the country.