Monday 28th April 2014

The Manus Island Regional Processing Centre, located off the north east coast of Papua New Guinea, is eight hundred kilometres from the country's capital, Port Moresby, and even further away from Canberra. Last July, when Kevin Rudd announced that asylum seekers arriving by boat would be sent to Manus and settled in PNG, many thought they would be out of sight and out of mind. All that changed earlier this year.

On the 16th and 17th February violent confrontations at the centre left one man dead and dozens injured. There are now at least four inquiries under way investigating the violence. There is still no official public explanation of what happened during those two days.

Next on Four Corners, reporter Geoff Thompson puts together the most comprehensive account yet of what took place in and around the processing centre in February this year.

Speaking to eyewitnesses Thompson learns of the festering bitterness that developed between locals and asylum seekers in the weeks and months leading up to the violence. He reveals how the Papua New Guinea Government's failure to set up a processing and resettlement system created the pre-conditions for protest and disorder. The program also investigates the role played by local civilians and local security guards in the assaults at the processing centre.

The story raises serious questions about the way the camp was set up, the staff it employed, the way it was run and asks: are asylum seekers safe on the island and could this happen again? As one witness put it:

"I'd say that within a week of arriving on Manus Island I formed the opinion ... there is no other possible outcome that can occur on this island than bloodshed."

THE MANUS SOLUTION, reported by Geoff Thompson and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 28th April at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 29th April at 11.00 am and 11.35 pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 at 8.00 pm on Saturday, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.

Transcript

THE MANUS SOLUTION - Monday 28 April 2014

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: The blood bath of Manus Island that was just waiting to happen, welcome to Four Corners.

If there's one that the Gillard, Rudd and Abbott governments were all able to agree on, it was the reopening of a detection centre on Papua New Guinea's remote Manus Island to process asylum seekers who tried to come to Australia without appropriate visas. For most Australians it seems, as boat arrivals in Australian waters dwindle, the woes of detainees on Manus was a classic case of out of sight, out of mind.

Until mid-February that is when protests by detainees at the Manus centre sparked the intervention of local guards and Papua New Guinea police, resulting in brutal violence, bloodshed, scores of injuries and the killing of an Iranian asylum seeker.

In the immediate aftermath both the Australian and PNG governments did their best to control the flow of information, but as the facts trickled out, Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison was forced to change his story quite significantly. Even now, as we wait for five inquiries to reveal their findings, establishing what really happened with any clarity has been extremely difficult.

But tonight, Four Corners presents some quite chilling accounts from staff who were at the centre when the violence occurred, as well as pictures taken at the time and conversations recorded between officials discussing their response to events.

For legal reasons some identities have been protected.

This careful reconstruction of those deeply worrying events in February is reported by Geoff Thompson.

GEOFF THOMPSON, REPORTER: Few places on the planet are as deeply hidden away from prying eyes as the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea.

It's not only more than 1000 kilometres away from the Australian mainland, but also 800 kilometres from PNG's own capital Port Moresby.

It's even remote on Manus Island - way out here on the easternmost point, inside a heavily guarded naval base.

STEVE KILBURN, FORMER G4S SECURITY GUARD: I'd say that within a week of arriving on Manus Island I formed the opinion, and I made comments to my wife and people that I know that there is only one possible outcome here, and that is bloodshed.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Steve Kilburn recently quit his job as a G4S guard on Manus Island.

STEVE KILBURN: I think one of the things that led me to the decision that I could no longer work there was when I had young people, refugees, who were terrified, saying to me, 'Please, please keep us safe, don't let them kill us!' And I said, 'I will'. And in the back of my mind I was thinking...I can't. And that's difficult.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Before working for G4S, Steve Kilburn was in the Australian navy, a fire-fighter and a politician.

Between 2009 and 2012 he was the Queensland Labor Party's member for Chatsworth.

STEVE KILBURN: What we are doing up there is too much, and regardless of what your beliefs are, regardless of what you believe about the policies of the previous government or this government, what is going on in Manus Island is cruel, unnecessarily cruel, and wrong.

(Sound of protests)

GEOFF THOMPSON: In the weeks leading up to mid-February protest activity at the centre had escalated.

It was witnessed by migration agent Liz Thompson, who was working on the island.

LIZ THOMPSON: You know there was tension, and there were continuing to be protests, but they were they were very peaceful, pretty quiet and you know always happened at a particular time, so they were predictable.

STEVE KILBURN: They had banners, they had signs and they would basically just quite peacefully stand in a group and call, 'Freedom, freedom, freedom!' They were trying to get the other compounds to join in.

GEOFF THOMPSON: What is it about Manus Island which turned peaceful protests towards mayhem and murder?

There were three key pressure points in the centre. The first was the fact that hundreds of male asylum seekers from different ethnic groups were crammed into basic accommodation in hot and humid conditions.

The centre has four main compounds.

In February, Delta held about 200 men from many different countries.

Oscar housed up to 500 - most of them from Iran.

Around 400 men were in Foxtrot - many from Iran and a mix of other backgrounds.

Mike is the newest addition to the centre, with about 200 detainees.

The second pressure point was the presence of PNG locals living at the ends of the centre, within metres of the perimeter fence.

The protests were upsetting them.

ALI (ACTOR): As soon as you get out of the compound you walk into the residential area. And when they did that night time, it started annoying them.

GEOFF THOMPSON: An interpreter working at the Manus centre, who we'll call Ali, is portrayed by an actor.

ALI (ACTOR): In private the G4S officers told us that they found some of the residents, this was more than a week before the incident, that some of the residents were walking in that area with machetes and knives.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Concern over confidentiality agreements and future employment prospects, has meant that most of the accounts given to us by G4S guards - and other witnesses - are being read by actors.

JIM (ACTOR), G4S SECURITY GUARD: I think it's like most fights, there's two groups of people that are involved for a fight to commence. I believe to a point the clients were involved in it by taunting the PNG nationals the way they did, treating them the way they did, even talking about their country the way they spoke about it.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The third and perhaps the most potent pressure point within the centre was the uncertainty faced by the asylum seekers.

By Sunday the 16th of February this year, not one had had their claim finalised, despite a resettlement agreement being reached with Papua New Guinea in July last year.

The asylum seekers - or transferees as they are referred to in the centre - were demanding answers to questions about their claims and the resettlement process.

Amid the rising tension, a meeting to address those concerns was called on that Sunday afternoon.

Ali the interpreter was at that meeting, which was fronted by PNG immigration officers.

ALI (ACTOR): So the immigration officers came in, and they were saying like we are going to resettle in PNG, and one of them were almost dozing off. And so these boys asked, 'Okay, you are saying you are going to resettle us, but your country is listed as 39 out of the 40 notorious countries, and how - I mean you can't even control your own people, how do you think that you could resettle us and give us a life here?'

MAX (ACTOR), G4S SECURITY GUARD: We phoned Canberra and said, 'You do this, this is what's going to happen', and they were overridden.

GEOFF THOMPSON: A G4S guard we'll call Max, is adamant that the security company had repeatedly advised against any announcements being made because of the potential for conflict.

MAX (ACTOR): The G4S centre management, based on our intelligence, advised immigration on site not to make that announcement, and I think immigration on site were happy to accept and comply with that recommendation. However, post riots I attended a meeting with centre management and a number of other employees, where centre management said that that decision was overturned by immigration in Canberra, and the announcement went ahead. That announcement was the catalyst for the riots that occurred later on that evening.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The representatives of the different groups returned to their compounds, many believing they would be stuck in the centre for the foreseeable future.

G4S guards braced for trouble.

STEVE KILBURN: At around six o'clock I was at the facility and I heard a message, someone on the radio calling out: 'Shut the gate! Shut the gate! Shut the gate! Multiple escapes!'

GEOFF THOMPSON: A van carrying meals between the compounds arrived at this gate in front of Oscar just after 6pm.

When the gate opened a group of up to 35 asylum seekers rushed through it and onto the main road known as Pugwash.

STEVE KILBURN: When they opened the gate for the vehicle to get through, a group of about 20 or 30 were waiting with their sand shoes on around the corner, and as the gate was opened for the car to go, they took off out the gate.

GEOFF THOMPSON: With no obvious place to run, it's unclear exactly what the escapees were hoping to achieve.

STEVE KILBURN: So they were running up the road with their arms in the air, shouting: 'Freedom, freedom, freedom!' I think they thought it was a bit of a laugh and, you know, they'd make their point and go back.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But local G4S guards cut off the escape with brutal efficiency.

STEVE KILBURN: In my opinion and the opinion of other expat staff that I spoke to, the force used to do that was way above what was required. One guard told me that he had a guy on the ground, the guy was lying there on his stomach and he turned around just in time to see someone running full speed and kicked him straight into the...in his head.

(Sound of protest)

GEOFF THOMPSON: The violence outside the centre followed the asylum seekers back inside Oscar compound.

This video footage, published by Fairfax Media, shows some of what happened next.

Local G4S guards are seen beating asylum seekers back into a building until a foreign guard intervenes.

STEVE KILBURN: When they saw the hiding they were getting, the belting that they were getting, some of them thought actually this is not, you know, what we expected and tried to climb back over the fence to get back into their compound. They were dragged off the fence and beaten. People from inside the compound saw what was going on and started yelling and screaming and may, I was told, but I never saw personally, some of them started throwing rocks at the people who were beating their friends outside, and the PNG guards got upset about that obviously and actually went over the fence into the compound and started thumping and belting the transferees inside the compound. And there was significant injuries and people, they copped an absolute hammering.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Ali was among the interpreters called in to the medical clinic to translate for the asylum seekers injured early that Sunday evening.

ALI (ACTOR): We went in and we found these boys were lying everywhere. I counted and there were about 14. One had a head injury, legs, arms, broken. And we were told that these clients had a scuffle inside the camp and that's because some them were not taking part in the agitation and the others got angry, and that's how it happened. And I said to my other interpreters: 'This is total lies. Someone has beaten them very badly.'

GEOFF THOMPSON: Eight asylum seekers were arrested and taken to the police station to be charged before being later released on bail and brought back to the centre. The violence in Oscar sparked unrest in Foxtrot and Mike.

MAX (ACTOR): Later on in that evening we heard the Mike compound start protesting, singing, chanting. IRT were kitted up.

GEOFF THOMPSON: IRT stands for Incident Response Team - a kind of riot squad made up of both local and foreign G4S guards.

There are two such teams available to assist with the centre's security needs.

They are seen here during an earlier training session on Manus Island. The IRT played a key role during the two nights of trouble.

STEVE KILBURN: There was a series of events in Foxtrot compound that night. There was massive amounts of stones, rocks, posts being torn out of the ground, as they tried to smash the gate down at the end of Foxtrot to get into Mike compound.

(Sound from protest footage)

GEOFF THOMPSON: This footage was taken at about 9.30pm Sunday night from here, outside the perimeter fence on the western end of Mike compound. Foxtrot compound is right next to it.

The footage shows that at this time asylum seekers were protesting violently. They can be seen throwing objects at G4S guards and others outside. Some of those guards appear to be carrying makeshift weapons.

STEVE KILBURN: The compounds are very close together and they were just throwing rocks and they were throwing them out towards the road.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Crucially, this footage also shows that at least some uniformed PNG locals were throwing objects back into Mike compound on Sunday night.

MAX (ACTOR): The IRT team that were on standby nearby moved into place and in full riot kit, including six foot shields, transparent riot shields, locked shields and put a barrier across the main front gate.

STEVE KILBURN: The Incident Response Team were sent in to get control and to hold that gate, and they did it under, under attack. Riot shields, helmets, the work and they were really belted for a while with stones and rocks and anything people could get their hands on. They eventually pushed through and forced people back up into their rooms, into the areas, and they basically locked down the compound and pretty much stayed in there...most of the night, which was a big effort.

GEOFF THOMPSON: After working throughout the night, guards got only a few hours rest on the accommodation ship, the Bibby Progress.

The Bibby - as it is known - is moored at this jetty about 700 metres away.

NEWSREADER: Unrest on Manus Island...

GEOFF THOMPSON: By early Monday morning, news of Sunday night's violence was being broadcast in Australia.

NEWSREADER: The Manus Island detention centre is back in the headlines this morning with reports of a mass breakout...

GEOFF THOMPSON: At lunchtime on Monday, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison held a press conference in Canberra.

SCOTT MORRISON, IMMIGRATION MINISTER: Several internal and external fences were knocked over; several glass panels on marquee doors were smashed. However they are made of safety glass and remain intact.

At 1930 hours local time all compounds were secure. Whilst minor incidents continued into the evening and tensions remained, all compounds were calm by 11pm.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Back on Manus Island, Monday was starting quietly.

Shipping containers were moved to replace downed internal fences.

MAX (ACTOR): Those fences are not purpose-built, half a dozen people giving them a good shake would bring them down very, very easily. It's not a secure facility in terms of fencing by any stretch of the imagination. You'd be hard pressed to get any council in Australia to approve them as a pool fence. They're just grossly inadequately basically.

GUARD K (ACTOR), G4S SECURITY GUARD: I was on day shift and throughout the day clients were coming up to us and saying could we be moved because they were scared more violence was coming. They were also scared of other clients, mostly the Iranians and Lebanese.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The centre's management tried to persuade the asylum seekers not to protest in the same way again.

STEVE KILBURN: I know that management was meeting with the cultural group leaders in all of the compounds and trying to give them the same message. You know, like protesting is fair enough, but if you...if it gets too dangerous for us, for the expats to be in that compound and we have to leave, we cannot guarantee anything, because we can't. It's not our...it's not Australia, it's PNG.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Liz Thompson says asylum seekers told her they were expecting conflict with local G4S guards to flare once more.

LIZ THOMPSON: They also said that the guards were walking past their compound making these gestures and threatening and laughing at them and saying you know we're, we're coming back, so they had the real sense that something was going to happen on Monday night and they were terrified.

STEVE KILBURN: The transferees had said if any PNG people come in here, it's all on, we will go nuts. At the same time, PNG locals had also been stockpiling weapons outside the compound. So during that day, both sides were arming up.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Late on Monday the protests started again.

STEVE KILBURN: The tension was just incredible. Everyone was just waiting. We all knew what was going to happen and it was incredibly anxious time for everyone.

GEOFF THOMPSON: With some kitchen areas trashed the night before, dinner wasn't served until after 9pm.

Asylum seekers in Oscar, Foxtrot and Mike suddenly appeared with their sandshoes on, a well-known warning to guards that trouble was imminent.

GUARD K (ACTOR), G4S GUARD: It was weirdly quiet after dinner. Clients started appearing and a lot of them were wearing runners. They got together and shouted: 'Fuck, fuck PNG. Fuck, fuck PNG.' I also heard: 'We fuck your mother. We fuck your sister.' This scared the others, mostly those not from Iran. They came at the gate saying they were scared for their lives, didn't want to fight or protest, just wanted to get out.

(Sound of chanting)

STEVE KILBURN: Delta compound in particular stayed out of it pretty much the whole time, even though they were getting tested and you know harassed from transferees in Oscar compound to join in.

GEOFF THOMPSON: For the second night in a row, violent protests erupted in Oscar, Foxtrot and Mike.

STEVE KILBURN: The rocks started going. And then it just turned onto a full-on attack from the end of Foxtrot compound to break through the gate, through the green zone as it's called, and into Mike compound. They wanted to get into Mike compound. It just ramped up. The noise was just unbelievable, the yelling, the constant barrage of rocks just hitting metal and poles smashing into fences.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Incident Response Teams were again deployed to secure the internal gate between Foxtrot and Mike.

The gate collapsed. And the centre was thrown into darkness.

STEVE KILBURN: Suddenly the power went off. It was a complete blackout in Foxtrot and Mike compound. I don't know that happened, but it was a very, depending on who you are, I suppose, a very unfortunate thing that right when all this was happening all lighting went out. It's all fed off a generator and that generator was...become unavailable for some reason.

GEOFF THOMPSON: This guard - played by an actor - was listening to radio traffic as a significant decision was made.

GUARD D (ACTOR), G4S GUARD: Somebody I think asked or said: 'We need to withdraw. Do you want us to hand over to the PNG police?' And it came back on the radio: 'Yes, hand it over to them.' And the person that had asked said: 'Are you sure? Do you know the consequences of that?' And they said: 'Yes, hand it over.' And so it was handed over to the PNG police and that's when the shooting started.

GEOFF THOMPSON: PNG police opened fire inside Mike compound.

A G4S guard we'll call Jim saw it happen. An actor is repeating his account of watching PNG police enter Mike from the main road called Pugwash. He also witnessed local G4S guards breaking away from the IRT to join an assault on asylum seekers.

JIM (ACTOR): They'd started to enter into Mike compound when we heard shooting. I looked up and the police were coming through the top end of Pugwash. They were firing as they came in. They were followed by locals, nationals. Some of those people were in part G4S uniform, there were some wearing TSA, Salvation Army uniform, others wearing Spick & Span cleaning uniforms as they came into the compound, and they went in with the police. A group of the IRT team then split and went and joined the rest of the nationals that were going through the compound. Not being able to see, but listening to the gunfire, listening to the shouts, hearing glass break, I can only assume that they were smashing into the place and there were screams and shouts, and once again I can only assume that people were being assaulted as they went through.

(Sound of gun shots)

STEVE KILBURN: There was a number of shotgun blasts and then some automatic weapon fire. So three sounded like shotguns, three boom, boom, boom and then [makes machine gun sound], automatic weapon fire going off. A message come over the radio saying they're firing warning shots in the air, not to panic, because gun shots start going off and people start to panic.

JIM (ACTOR): It was a bit like the Wild West. There was no aiming. On occasion the guns, the rifles or the pistols were in the air. On other occasions they were down lower, but not as if they were aiming at anyone, more like an American movie where you see the gangbangers running around. It was more of a scare factor to pull them back into line. This is what we can do, we're here, this is our law, this is our land. We'll police it the way we need to police it to pull them back into line. But they weren't just firing into the air. There were, as I saw later, there were bullet holes in containers at the front of the compound and also at the rear of the compound, also upstairs.

MAX (ACTOR): One was definitely a shotgun, the other one sounded very much like a pistol. That immediately put the Foxtrot clients into a frenzy. They universally, all of them, slammed into the gate and started yelling, 'They're killing us! They're killing us! They're killing us!' And wanted out of there.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Hundreds were evacuated to safety on an oval outside the centre.

But Reza Barati wasn't among them. The 23-year-old Iranian Kurd had been beaten to death.

His body was found here, on the outside upstairs section of this accommodation block in Mike compound.

Written eye-witness accounts of the murder - seen by Four Corners - agree with another eye-witness account relayed from the centre by phone to Reza Barati's cousin, Masoud.

Masoud grew up with Reza as a Kurd living in Iran.

MASOUD: I know Reza for 20 years. He didn't even say anything to anyone, like to upset them.

[Showing Geoff his phone messages] I tell him to, to call me...

GEOFF THOMPSON: We spoke with Masoud in New South Wales, where he now lives.

MASOUD: He was my best friend...

GEOFF THOMPSON: He was in contact with Reza two days before he was killed. Afterwards Masoud received a phone call from a roommate of Reza's who watched as locals attacked him.

MASOUD: He say Reza he has been in the internet room when he hear the shooting. He got scary, get a fright, and he tried to go to his room. Unfortunately when, when he opened the door and want to running to his room, the people got him and they hit him with rock and wood. Yeah he said when, when they got him they hit him like…like the crazy people. And the last hit, he smash one the back of his head and he passed away.

GEOFF THOMPSON: This G4S guard we've called Max also saw Reza Barati as he lay dying.

MAX (ACTOR): It looked like he'd been hit round the side of the head and possibly had somebody stomp on his face with a shoe or a boot, which would account for the soggy mass at the back of the head on the steel grating.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The bloody evidence left behind that night and photographed for days afterwards leaves no doubt that Mike compound was a scene of terrible violence.

STEVE KILBURN: The most confronting thing for me was that afterwards people, expats, once it settled down, were sent to go and search the rooms, to make sure everyone had been accounted for. They found people jammed up under their beds, so terrified. Took them 20 minutes to get them out. They also saw door handles that had been broken off from the outside, so people had locked themself in their room, the doors had been broken into, not out of, and guys said there was just blood sprays up and down the wall, there was hand prints where people, in blood, hand prints in the ground and the hand prints dragged out of the room as they'd been dragged from under their bed where they were hiding. So there was a significant amount of violence went on, and not everyone that was subject to that violence was involved in the riot.

GEOFF THOMPSON: This photo suggests that rather than anyone escaping the centre that Monday night, someone had invaded it.

This fence runs along the beach, behind Mike compound where Reza Barati was killed.

GUARD D (ACTOR): I think they came over the back fence, I mean there's a fence and it's pushed down and in. It's not from someone breaking out, it's from someone coming in.

GEOFF THOMPSON: What Max witnessed after Reza Barati was killed also supports the allegation that locally hired G4S guards were involved in that night's attacks.

MAX (ACTOR): I witnessed on two occasions G4 IRT local guards walk up behind detainees that were seated with their legs crossed and actually kick them in the lower back or to the back of the head. And I immediately ripped into them and moved them out of the area.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The long list of injured is testament to the carnage, as are the many photos of beaten bodies which the asylum seekers themselves have taken.

Sixty-two sustained serious injuries; one was shot in the buttock, another lost an eye.

ASYLUM SEEKER: I'm living in Manus Island now and my compound name is Mike.

GEOFF THOMPSON: This Rohingyan asylum seeker was inside Mike compound that Monday night.

ASYLUM SEEKER: I was in my room at that time some PNG G4S come to our camp and came in my room and they broke our window and they was try to broke our door but they couldn't. But some Australian G4S they came our room and they told us we have to go outside. When we came in front of our gate and some PNG locals, PNG and G4S came to beat us and they beat us like animal. But we told them we didn't do anything but they didn't hear anything, but just they beat us.

GEOFF THOMPSON: After the onslaught inside Mike, the injured were first taken to the compound's mess area.

MAX (ACTOR): In the Mike mess area there was just blood on the floor from the entrance to the opposite door to the back door all the way down the other end. There was roughly a hundred clients in there and 25 to 30 of them were laying on the floor with obvious bleeds. There was free-flowing blood from small lacerations, large lacerations to the head, upper arms, wrists, thighs. There was just a lot of blood coming out.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The seriously wounded were driven from the centre to the jetty where the accommodation ship, the Bibby Progress was moored.

STEVE KILBURN: The medical team had moved down onto the Bibby and set up a triage and emergency medical centre basically on the jetty outside the boat. People were being taken down there in cars, in the back of utes, however they could get them there. It was pretty hectic.

GUARD D (ACTOR): There's blood everywhere, faces kicked in, noses, all head injuries and I just remember blood everywhere I looked; there was blood everywhere.

GEOFF THOMPSON: By midnight the jetty had transformed into an all-night open-air emergency ward.

VOX POP: Gunshot wound

GEOFF THOMPSON: The words "gunshot wound" and the whimpering of the wounded can be heard in this footage taken from the ship.

STEVE KILBURN: I've never seen that many injured people with those many significant injuries, not even close. It was quite a confronting scene and there were people from the Salvation Army who were standing around holding drips, trying to console people, and there was numerous people there, just in tears, staff I'm talking about, who were just so upset about the whole thing. It was sad.

GEOFF THOMPSON: No-one has yet been charged with the murder of Reza Barati or the maiming of other asylum seekers.

No suspects have been officially named and the PNG police have declined our requests for interviews.

G4S also declined our request, but in a statement defended its professionalism.

The morning after the Monday night attacks, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison faced the media. He said the asylum seekers had put themselves at risk by protesting outside the centre.

SCOTT MORRISON: There were no PNG police inside the centre last night. That is the report that was provided to me overnight. That is the information that I have available to me. So the suggestion that PNG police were in the centre is not correct on the information that I have.

GEOFF THOMPSON: After the Minister's press conference the Immigration Department conducted a teleconference call with the centre's stakeholders.

On the line with Departmental representatives were members of G4S management, the medical services provider IHMS and the Salvation Army.

MAN: Um ok, yep it was extremely subdued this morning, we had 400 people on the oval, moving back into the compounds this morning, it was very straightforward and very subdued.

GEOFF THOMPSON: A recording of the call obtained by Four Corners shows that the Minister's department was worried that the Manus Island option was going off the rails.

MAN: Ok well look it's Mark again, we really need some...

GEOFF THOMPSON: A voice believed to be that of Department Deputy Secretary Mark Cormack gave an insight into the Minister's thinking in the wake of the riot.

MAN: He's obviously very worried about what happened, but I think he's actually more concerned about what are we going to do differently, that is going to make a difference. I mean, you heard him. They're not going to change their policy. They're not going to change their approach. They've got very strong resolve. He won't be able to kind of, I think, sustain that in the face of no obvious tactical change.

GEOFF THOMPSON: A G4S representative on Manus Island suggests that it was stone throwing from outside the centre which turned relatively peaceful protests into violent ones.

(Sound of second man talking)

GEOFF THOMPSON: This is believed to be the centre's then Acting Regional Manager John McCaffery:

MAN 2: When the compounds started their relatively peaceful protesting there was stone throwing involved outside the compounds into the compounds. That elicited a return response from the transferees and then they used that to start stoning each other between compounds at the Foxtrot and Mike end and that really has just grown to what we experienced last night.

SCOTT MORRISON: There were two shots that were reportedly fired and they were reportedly fired....

GEOFF THOMPSON: Later that day, Scott Morrison said that if asylum seekers remained within the centre he could guarantee their safety.

SCOTT MORRISON: I can guarantee their safety when they remain in the centre and act co-operatively with those who are trying to provide them with support and accommodation. When people engage in violent acts and in disorderly behaviour and breach fences and get involved in that sort of behaviour and go to the other side of the fence, well they will be subject to law enforcement as applies in Papua New Guinea.

GEOFF THOMPSON: It would be another four days before the Minister would confirm that violence did occur inside the centre.

SCOTT MORRISON: Further information provided to me yesterday indicates that the majority of the riotous behaviour that occurred on the night of February 17 at Manus Island, and the response to that behaviour to restore order in the centre, took place within the perimeter of the centre. This does not rule out incidents having occurred outside the perimeter of the facility.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Scott Morrison still cannot confirm the presence of PNG police or other locals inside the centre that Monday night.

SCOTT MORRISON: It's a matter for the final report to confirm. It's a matter for the police investigation to confirm the facts of the incident on that evening.

GEOFF THOMPSON: While the Minister waits for that final report, a crucial question remains. Can he guarantee the safety of asylum seekers inside the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre?

SCOTT MORRISON: It is absolutely my aspiration, it is my commitment to ensure that these places are safe, but it is difficult I think to do that in every instance.

GEOFF THOMPSON: A month ago the management of the centre transferred to Australian company Transfield Services and its subcontractor, Wilsons Security.

(Sound of crying women)

GEOFF THOMPSON: Any changes to the way the centre is run will come too late for Reza Barati. His family in Iran wants his killers brought to justice.

Within the centre the dead man's being mourned as a martyr.

His death also briefly ignited a flicker of national protest by thousands of Australians against their country's asylum seeker policies.

MASOUD: I was, I was really upset, from that that night I hear that Reza he has been killed. I was crying and I prayed for, for him. But when I see the...some of the picture of the people they, they are coming, coming outside from other like Sydney, Melbourne, I get feel like…it makes me feel good.

STEVE KILBURN: This might sound ridiculous, given what's happened, but it could've been worse, it could've been a lot worse.

MAX (ACTOR): The reality is that if somebody from outside wants to come in and do harm to those people, there's not a lot we can do to stop it, especially if they're armed, or en masse.

GUARD D (ACTOR): It's surprising that only one person died. It's very lucky that only one person died.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Some of the guards we spoke to believe that with better management and more resources asylum seekers can be kept safe on Manus Island.

It's understood an order has been placed for prison-grade perimeter fencing.

SCOTT MORRISON: There's been a dramatic transformation in the running of these centres after we've changed the contracting arrangements on Manus Island. That was something that was apparent to me last year. That's why we reviewed them. That's why we've changed them. They were in fact in the process of change at the time of this incident taking place. My only regret is that this wasn't able to be done any sooner.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Steve Kilburn is not convinced.

STEVE KILBURN: We couldn't guarantee the safety of those people, and we still can't. I sat for a while with a young Somali refugee, young guy. He'd had his head kicked in, his face was smashed, he couldn't eat, he could hardly drink. And he was scared. And he was all alone [begins to cry]. And we're supposed to be responsible for him. And I looked at him and thought, what are we doing? This is not justifiable; it's not. There's got to be a better way. And you know, I can't believe that as a you know educated, wealthy, first-world country we can't come up with a better way than abject cruelty.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Of the five inquiries into the incidents on Manus Island, the Australian Department of Immigration's review, headed by former senior public servant Robert Cornall, was due to be handed to the Government by the end of this month. An extended version of Scott Morrison's interview and the full statement from the security firm G4S can be found on the Four Corners website.

Next week on Four Corners, banking bad; a must watch story that exposes how Australia's biggest bank exploits the savings of its customers.

Until then, goodnight.

END

Background Information

STORY UPDATES

Manus Island riot: G4S security briefing recording contradicts claims PNG police actions were 'unexpected' | Guardian | 27 May 2014 - A recording of a G4S security briefing on Manus Island contradicts claims the company has made to both a Senate inquiry and an independent review of the violence which left one man dead and 62 injured in February. By Four Corners reporter Geoff Thompson.

Letter from G4S's John McCaffery to Anthony Kneipp | Guardian | 27 May 2014 - The following email is correspondence dated February 10 from G4S deputy regional manager John McCaffrey to Anthony Kneipp from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Manus Island riot: Independent report by Robert Cornall details deadly detention centre violence | ABC News | 26 May 2014 - A Salvation Army worker identified as allegedly leading a fatal attack on Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati on Manus Island in February is expected to be charged in Papua New Guinea.

VIDEO: Manus Island riot report released | ABC News | 26 May 2014 - The Federal Government has released the official report into February's fatal riot at Manus Island immigration detention centre. A Salvation Army worker has been implicated in the death of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati.

OFFICIAL RESPONSES

Statement: Immigration Department - Read this response sent to Four Corners from a spokesperson at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. [PDF 414Kb]

Statement: G4S - Read this response from the G4S Australia Press Office to questions from Four Corners. [PDF 250Kb]

Minister for Immigration Media Centre - Read all of the Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison's published speeches and transcripts to date, in relation to the Government's offshore detention policy and Operation Sovereign Borders.

KEY REPORTS AND INQUIRIES

Incident at the Manus Island Detention Centre from 16 February to 18 February 2014 - Find Submissions, Terms of Reference and other documents relating to the Senate Inquiry into the Manus Island disturbance. The final report is due in June 2014.

Amnesty Report: "This is Breaking People" | Dec 2013 - In this report Amnesty' describes the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre as: "...a closed detention centre, resembling a combination of a prison and a military camp." (p.36) Download the report.

UNHCR Report | Nov 2013 - UNHCR Regional Office UNHCR undertook a visit to Manus Island from 23 to 25 October 2013 to assess the progress by Australia and Papua New Guinea in implementing their commitments under the 1951 Refugee Convention since UNHCR's June 2013 visit and to review the reception conditions at the Regional Processing Centre. Download their report. [PDF 546Kb]

Report into Immigration Detention in Australia | Parliamentary Library | March 2013 - This background note provides a brief overview of the historical and political context surrounding mandatory detention in Australia. [PDF 516Kb]

RELATED NEWS COVERAGE

Manus Island riots: Scott Morrison backs down from guaranteeing safety of asylum seekers in PNG detention | ABC News | 28 April 2014 - Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has backed away from guaranteeing the safety of asylum seekers inside the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea. By Geoff Thompson and Karen Michelmore.

Fresh details revealed of growing tensions before deadly Manus riot | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2014 - A series of power cuts and a delay in serving meals contributed to immediate tensions in the Manus Island detention centre on the night that Reza Barati died, according to part of the official G4S incident log seen by Guardian Australia.

AUDIO: UNCHR still waiting for Aust Govt response on asylum seeker turn-back policy | ABC AM | 23 Apr 2014 - The United Nations refugee agency has asked Australia to prove it's not breaching the Refugee Convention with its policy of turning back asylum seeker boats.

VIDEO: New video of Manus violence | Lateline | 22 Apr 2014 - New footage has emerged of the events leading up to the violence at the Manus Island Detention Centre in which Reza Berati was killed.

Manus Island riot: Asylum seeker speaks of witnessing Reza Berati's death | ABC News | 5 Apr 2014 - The ABC has obtained an eyewitness account of the murder of 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati during the February riot inside the Manus Island detention centre.

Federal Police refuses to help PNG's investigation into death of Manus Island asylum seeker Reza Berati | ABC News | 1 Apr 2014 - The Australian Federal Police has refused a request from Papua New Guinea to help with the investigation into the death of an asylum seeker in the Manus Island detention centre.

Australian lawyer Jay Williams deported from PNG following ejection from Manus Island detention centre | ABC News | 29 Mar 2014 - An Australian lawyer representing 75 detainees on Manus Island has been forced to leave PNG after being threatened with arrest.

AUDIO: Manus Island: Damage from riots visible during media's tour of detention centre | Radio Australia | 23 Mar 2014 - The damage from last month's deadly riots at the Manus Island detention centre was visible when a group of journalists toured the facility in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Friday.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirms one asylum seeker dead, 77 injured during second night of unrest | ABC News | 18 Mar 2014 - One asylum seeker is dead, another is in a critical condition and 13 are being treated for serious injuries after a second night of violence at the Manus Island detention centre.

Asylum seeker made frantic call to brother as violence unfolded | ABC News | 18 Mar 2014 - A man has described the frantic phone call he received from his asylum seeker brother, who was left "covered with blood" after violence erupted at the Manus Island detention centre overnight.

Violent breakout at detention centre occurred after asylum seekers learnt of PNG fate | ABC News | 18 Mar 2014 - Tensions at the Manus Island detention centre erupted into a violent breakout on Sunday night, after asylum seekers were told their only option for resettlement was to live in Papua New Guinea.

Reza Barati's family: 'We want answers. What did they do to him?' | The Guardian | 27 Feb 2014 - 'He went to Australia to seek refuge from his land of dreams, where he could have a life and study but instead he was held in captivity and killed,' says cousin.

Fact Check: Is Australia responsible for asylum seekers detained on Manus Island? | ABC Fact Check | 28 Feb 2014 - Questions about Australia's legal responsibility to asylum seekers detained on Manus Island have arisen after one asylum seeker was killed and others were critically injured during a violent overnight confrontation in the detention centre on February 17. Read this Fact Check to find out more.

Taxpayers lumped with $13m bill for Manus Island detention staff's floating hotel | SMH | 23 Feb 2014 - Taxpayers are footing a bill of more than $73,400 a night for detention centre staff to stay in a floating hotel moored off Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

Manus Island conditions violate law: UNHCR | ABC News | 4 Feb 2013 - The United Nations refugee agency has released a scathing report on the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea.

Scott Morrison denies Amnesty report findings on Manus island detention | The Guardian | 13 Dec 2013 - Immigration minister says he will review report, which says conditions on Manus are tantamount to torture.

RELATED MEDIA

Manus Island - An insider's report | Tara Moss Blog | March 2014 - Author Tara Moss has been writing about events on Manus Island, from informaiton gathered by a confidential source.

Manus Island Riot: Interactive Timeline | The Guardian | 28 Feb 2014 - A timeline that pieces together every known event on the night of the Manus Island riot and the following days.

At Work Inside Our Detention Centres: A Guard's Story | The Global Mail - Realised in a comic-book style and drawn from exclusive interviews and diary entries from the ex-employee, A Guard's Story offers rare insight into how Australia's outsourced detention facilities are run.

WATCH RELATED FOUR CORNERS REPORTS

No Advantage | 29 Apr 2013 - Inside the offshore processing centres, where protest, self-harm and suicide attempts are a brutal fact of life.

Asylum | 3 Nov 2011 - On average, asylum seekers remain in detention for around a year, but that figure hides a group of people who remain locked away for much longer periods of time.

LINKS

Australia for UNHCR | @UNrefugees - Dedicated to providing life-changing humanitarian support to refugees, displaced and stateless people. www.unrefugees.org.au/

Humanitarian Research Partners | @HRP_org - A non-profit human rights research and advocacy organisation speaking out about asylum seekers in Australia. www.humanitarianresearchpartners.org

The Refugee Council of Australia | @OzRefugeeCounc - The national umbrella body for refugees and the organisations and individuals who support them. www.refugeecouncil.org.au/

RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees | @riserefugee - A refugee and asylum seeker organisation in Australia governed and run by refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees. riserefugee.org/

Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors | STARRTS - Helps refugees recover from their experiences and build a new life in Australia. Services include counselling, group therapy, group activities and outings, camps for children and young people, English classes and physiotherapy. www.startts.org.au/