Immigration minister told parliament the inquiry would examine his own conduct, but it did not, prompting the accusation

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A review commissioned to investigate the circumstances of the Manus Island inquiry did not examine the immigration minister’s early incorrect statements following the disturbances in the Manus detention centre, prompting Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young to accuse the minister, Scott Morrison, of misleading parliament.

A Senate committee is examining the circumstances of the disturbances on Manus Island in February, which led to dozens of serious injuries and the death of one asylum seeker, Reza Barati.



When the minister first announced the unrest he said events occurred outside the perimeter, but later conceded the events – including the death of Barati – occurred largely within the perimeter of the compound.



Robert Cornall, a former public servant, was commissioned by the Immigration Department to determine what happened at the centre. His review found that no single party could be blamed for the unrest, but pointed to a range of factors.



Morrison told parliament on 24 February that the inquiry would examine his own conduct surrounding the circumstances of the unrest.



But Cornall told the inquiry, in response to questions from Hanson-Young, that Morrison’s comments and how he came to make the incorrect statements were not the subject of his review.



“I certainly looked at what he did as minister from his appointment in September, his commissioning from the force review and his endorsement of various recommendations … and his meetings with PNG officials and then establishing the ministerial forum.



“I looked at all those aspects of his conduct, but in terms of what happened on the night my terms of reference were to determine what the facts were, and his commentary on the night was not a relevant factor as far as I was concerned.”



Hanson-Young said: “The minister misled the parliament then.”



Liberal senator Zed Seselja later called on Hanson-Young to withdraw the comments.



The minister said in February: “There will be a formal review into these matters. It'll go into the performance of the service contractors that those opposite contracted.



“It will go into the security arrangements that were put in place and left to the opposition when we formed government. It'll go into all of those, Madame Speaker, and it'll go into the conduct of myself and those on this side and our handling of these issues since we took over.”



The committee heard harrowing testimony from former Salvation Army employees Nicole Judge and Christopher Iacamo about their time working on the island. Both said they had limited training to deal with the offshore detention environments and felt threatened and unsafe at the centre.



“I was given no training. I didn’t even have a job interview,” Judge said.



Iacomo said: “I didn’t even have a resume.”



The two faced repeated questioning from Liberal senator Ian Macdonald about the virtues of the Manus Island refugee policy and whether or not they were concerned about deaths at sea.



Judge responded: "I feel like the questions you're asking aren't even relevant to the investigation.



"Can I have some questions that are relevant to my submission?"



Judge also described the minister visiting the compound at one point and telling asylum seekers: “You have no hope of reaching Australian shores.



“He just walked around the centre, very indignant, didn’t look at any of the asylum seekers, didn’t look at the staff.”



She said the asylum seekers started shouting at him: “Here comes the king,” as he walked through the centre.



A key issue that has arisen from the inquiry is who was in control of the centre.



Liz Thompson, a migration agent who worked at Manus Island, interviewing and assisting asylum seekers in their refugee applications, told the inquiry their work was controlled by the Australian Immigration Department.



“All of our work was controlled … everything we did was controlled by the department.”



In response to questions about the refugee status determination process in Papua New Guinea, she said, “they had no guidance from the sovereign government on how to do that and the only guidance we received was from Australia.”



Thompson has previously spoken out on SBS Dateline and said there was no process in place to allow asylum seekers to be resettled.



She added that she had been told the Immigration Department was concerned about what information was being provided to them by the migration agents, and said they were told not to mention resettlement.



“I was told the Department of Immigration was concerned about what we were saying.”



Former G4S guard Martin Appleby, who previously spoke to Guardian Australia about his time on Manus Island, told the committee the detention centre could be most closely compared to a correctional facility.



“The detainees are kept under lock and key, they are supervised by security. The infrastructure differs but the place itself lends itself more to a correctional facility than anything else.”

