After his version of events was disputed by the Manus police chief, the Australian immigration minister says he won’t release evidence for his claims

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Peter Dutton, the immigration minister, says he won’t release additional material clarifying the causes of violence on Manus Island two weeks ago because his briefings are classified or confidential.

Pressed to explain inconsistencies between his version of events, and a contradictory account given by the top police officer on Manus Island, Dutton told Sky News on Tuesday night he was not going to release his ministerial briefings publicly.

“I receive confidential briefings, I receive classified information from the commissioner of the Australian Border Force and the department, and I am not going to release that information publicly,” Dutton said. “There is an investigation under way.”

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The navy and police in Papua New Guinea have blamed a shooting on the island two weeks ago on a football field incident that escalated, but Dutton has suggested the hostilities were sparked by three asylum seekers seen leading a five-year-old boy towards the detention centre.



Dutton told Sky News last week: “I think there was concern about why the boy was being led, or for what purpose he was being led, away back into the regional processing centre.”

David Yapu, the Manus provincial police commander, has contradicted that account, saying the violence at the compound a fortnight ago, and the incident involving the child, were two separate incidents.

Dutton told the ABC at the weekend he stood by his own account of the incident, which he said was based on advice.

The minister said the account he had given of the incident was “true” and he suggested he had different information to the regional police commander.

Dutton said on Sunday he was in possession of advice “that you don’t [have], so why don’t we let the police investigation run its course and allow them some independent analysis”.

Asked on Sky News on Tuesday night to specify his different information, Dutton said briefings were confidential, and an investigation would take its course.

The minister said he did not resile from his account of events “one bit” and he continued to insist the violence was the result of a build up in tensions which had been “on a slow boil for a period of time”.

If Peter Dutton has alternative facts about Manus violence, he should release them | Katharine Murphy Read more

“My position hasn’t changed. My story hasn’t changed.”

Labor has demanded that Dutton apologise. “Peter Dutton’s comments are irresponsible and outrageous,” the shadow immigration spokesman, Shayne Neumann said over the weekend. “They pre-empt the findings of a PNG investigation and have been denied by authorities on the ground. Peter Dutton should know better and immediately apologise.”

The Greens have also blasted the minister’s intervention, and have called for Dutton to exit the portfolio. Greens immigration spokesman Nick McKim has said the minister’s position is untenable.