Manus Island inquiry: Staff, contractors lift lid on 'death trap' conditions inside immigration detention centre

Updated

Evidence to a Senate inquiry this week has painted a graphic and disturbing picture of the conditions at the Manus Island immigration detention centre when an Iranian asylum seeker was killed.

The inquiry has been established by the Greens and Labor to investigate the circumstances which lead to the death of Iranian Reza Barati during several days and nights of riots at the centre in February.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the investigation is not designed to decide who directly killed Mr Barati, but rather provide a comprehensive look at the the policy of sending asylum seekers offshore for processing and resettlement.

The evidence from a range of whistleblowers and former service providers, who all spent considerable time on the island, creates an impression of a centre that was overwhelmed by too many detainees and not welcome by many locals.

The inquiry has heard from repeated witnesses that the pressure on the Manus Island centre increased dramatically when former prime minister Kevin Rudd announced his so-called PNG solution last year on July 19.

From that time all asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by boat would be transferred offshore, and would never be resettled in Australia.

It is a policy that has been maintained by the current Coalition government.

Detention centre facilities 'insufficient'

[Papa block in Foxtrot compound] was a death trap and a hazard to everyone who lived in there. It was concrete; there was no air. It was just an appalling place to put people. There were 160 people living in there. They were not allowed to even put a sheet around their bed to get any privacy, so they never got any privacy at all. The whole time they are there, they are sleeping next to strangers. Add on top of that, blistering sun. We have put mesh around the fence lines to make sure that the media cannot see in and film footage of transferees, which stops any wind or air at all coming into the joint. It is an absolute oven in there. That is the environment they are in 24/7. They have to ask for every single thing that they want. We have stopped giving them sugar, because the concern was that it was keeping them up all night. Everything they want, they have to ask us for. That is incredibly demoralising for someone. Steve Kilburn, former guard, G4S

The Salvation Army was the lead contractor on the island, providing welfare and support services before and after the July 19 policy change.

Liz Cruickshank was the contract manager on Manus Island.

We went from 26 asylum seekers to receiving, I think, 1,100 in 11 weeks, so the centre changed dramatically in terms of the number of people there. Liz Cruickshank, contract manager, Salvation Army

Salvation Army chief executive of Humanitarian Mission Services Sharon Callister outlined to the inquiry the impact the dramatic increase in numbers had on every aspect of life at the centre.

There were insufficient telephones, computers and internet access for asylum seekers. Faith rooms for asylum seekers were inadequate to allow them to practise their religion. Recreation spaces were taken away to allow buildings for accommodation to be constructed. There were insufficient dedicated education classrooms, which meant that classrooms had to be frequently undertaken in the hot, unsheltered, outdoor environment. There were insufficient dedicated interview rooms for case management, which meant that interviews had to be frequently undertaken in the hot, unsheltered, outdoor environment, which could not protect the privacy of the asylum seekers or facilitate a professional and therapeutic relationship. There were insufficient and, in some circumstances, no interpreters at all for certain cultural groups. Sharon Callister, Humanitarian Mission Services CEO, Salvation Army

The Salvation Army says it repeatedly raised these concerns with the Department of Immigration, but nothing had changed by the end of February when their contract ended.

"Ultimately the facilities, pre-July 2013, were constructed to accommodate and care for approximately 400 to 500 persons, but by December 2013 they were housing 1,300 asylum seekers," Ms Callister told the inquiry.

The previous contract provider for security and management services, G4S, gave similar evidence about a lack of responsiveness from the Immigration Department, when it repeatedly requested improvements to the centre's fencing and lighting.

By the time of the riots on 16 and 17 February there were in excess of 1,300 transferees but none of the security infrastructure necessary had been implemented at the centre. In our view, had proper security infrastructure been in place, including appropriate fencing along the lines we had recommended, then the severe injuries and the fatality would probably not have occurred. Darren Boyd, regional managing director, G4S South Pacific

The Immigration Department says from late 2013 it was making progress on improving the infrastructure at the centre.

Department secretary Martin Bowles has rejected the assertion that the requests from G4S were ignored.

It was just the normal process, I suppose. To do some of the work we are talking about, which planning was underway for early in the piece, is not a simple exercise. These are pieces of quite significant infrastructure. For a fence, for instance, you have to do the design and go through the security considerations. We had to do unexploded ordnance surveys, geotech type things and site surveys. Martin Bowles, department secretary, Immigration Department

The inquiry was told construction was delayed by the February riots, but that work has now begun.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison also points to the fact that both G4S and the Salvation Army did not have their contracts renewed, and Transfield Services now holds a combined contract.

"The Government formed the view that a change of contracting arrangements was necessary and as a result decided not to continue the contracts of the Salvation Army or G4S and instead integrated service contracts across both the Manus Island and Nauru processing centres," the spokesman said.

"This has resulted in a far more satisfactory set of arrangements."

Guards called centre rape dungeon: former staff

The most emotional testimony to the Senate inquiry came from former staff members of both the Salvation Army and G4S.

Former G4S guard Steve Kilburn broke down as he described conditions for injured detainees after the February riots which are at the centre of this inquiry.

[Injured detainees] spent nights lying on filthy, blood-covered mattresses with no bedding and no sheets - the people that had soiled themselves through the traumatic experience that they had been through and did not have any clothing to get dressed in. Steve Kilburn, former guard, G4S

Nicole Judge and Christopher Iocono told of how they were recruited by the Salvation Army through Facebook and rushed to Nauru in September 2012, as the Salvos aimed to meet the rapid deadlines put in place by the previous government.

Both say the conditions at Manus Island were far worse than on Nauru, where families are now held.

Manus Island shocked me to my core. I saw sick and defeated men crammed behind fences and being denied their basic human rights, padlocked inside small areas in rooms, often with no windows, and being mistreated by those who were employed to care for their safety. I saw expatriate guards physically beat transferees. I also saw and heard expatriate and national G4S guards insult the religious and cultural beliefs of transferees. Nicole Judge, Salvation Army

In her submission to the inquiry, Ms Judge included what she had heard both the G4S guards and PNG national guards saying in regards to the centre and its occupants.

I have heard P1 block in foxtrot being referred to by G4S guards as a "rape dungeon". PNG national guards once joked during meal time to me and colleagues that they would "shoot them", referring to transferees, if any riotous behaviour occurred. Nicole Judge, Salvation Army

Both university students say they did not receive any training for the psychological support they found themselves providing to detainees every day.

There were a number of men who had mental conditions and talked to us directly about that, about worrying about their families overseas, about everything, about what was going to happen to them. In Australia you have to have a degree to talk to people, to counsel, which was pretty much what we were doing on a daily basis in a camp with 1,000 men with massive problems like that. Christopher Iocono, Salvation Army

The Salvation Army maintains general support workers did not require training, telling the inquiry those who required qualifications like teachers and social workers were appropriately qualified.

Mr Kilburn and another former guard employed by G4S, Martin Appleby, also told the inquiry of their ongoing concerns about the limited training provided to the local security staff employed to work at the centre, some of whom are believed to have joined in the attack on asylum seekers during the riots in February.

Would we go and get people off the street - some people with only middle high-school education - give them six days training and put them into the riot squad at a prison in Australia? Is that something that we would think is a reasonable thing? Of course not. But that is what we have done up there. Why? Because it is up there. Up there, we get away with anything. Steve Kilburn, former guard, G4S

We had given them five to six days training and then three days physical training. In Melbourne, in the correctional background, it takes us six weeks to get through our correctional training and then a further five to six weeks with regard to emergency response groups or IRTs. Martin Appleby, former guard, G4S

G4S management told the inquiry it has re-examined its training procedures but believes they were sufficient.

"We concluded that it was not a training issue, it was a discipline issue, which quite honestly is driven by experience. That was one of the key factors," Darren Boyd said.

The company says it is still very unclear which of its staff participated in the attacks on the asylum seekers.

Imagery: Aerial view of Manus Island Regional Processing Centre taken on March 2, 2014. (DigitalGlobe)

Tense relationship between locals, resettled refugees: Kilburn

Of the Salvation Army and G4S whistleblowers, only Mr Kilburn was at the centre on the night Mr Barati was killed, but all have described the relationship with local Manus Island residents and the police mobile squad as tense at best, and downright deadly at worst.

Mr Kilburn described the PNG police mobile squad to the inquiry.

We all knew, when these guys come in, it is going to be a bloodbath. We were concerned that they would not even care if it was us that was in the way. Steve Kilburn, former guard, G4S

He believes any refugees resettled on Manus Island will be in grave danger, unless there is a massive payoff for local landowners.

"The locals are resentful of the fact that we are destroying their island basically and just turning it into a tip," he said.

The inquiry heard conflicting evidence about whether G4S authorised the entry of the heavily armed PNG police mobile squad, after its own incident response team had been overwhelmed with exhaustion.

Mr Kilburn believes the invitation was implicit.

The message to the liaison officer was, "Tell the police they need to take whatever action or do whatever they need to do to protect the non-combatants, the people in the mess, because we can no longer guarantee their safety if they are going to be attacked." That was my recollection of it. Steve Kilburn, former guard, G4S

But the G4S general managers from the centre, John McCaffrey and Kevin Pye, are adamant that authorisation was never given, because they had increasing concerns about the conduct of the mobile squad.

I was not convinced at that stage that less people would die by mobile squad intervention as opposed to more people would die without it. They were a very blunt force object, so at no point was there a discussion about invitation to the police. Kevin Pye, general manager, G4S

The PNG police themselves have said they never entered the centre, but that has been dismissed by the man commissioned by the federal government to do an independent review into Mr Barati's death.

"I have no evidence that that is correct and a considerable amount of evidence that it is not," Robert Cornall told the inquiry.

Robert Cornall is the author of the Federal Government's independent review, and says Mr Barati would have stood out in the crowd due to his height.

We understood that because of his height, he was a very noticeable person in the compound. His friend in Mike Compound described him to me as a very gentle person. Robert Cornall, author of independent review

Department says PNG Government has overall control

The killing of Mr Barati sparked this inquiry, but the question of who is directly responsible for his death is unlikely to be answered by this Senate process.

The inquiry heard that the PNG police investigation is ongoing, and the Federal Government has repeatedly cautioned against interference in procedures of another sovereign nation.

But what the inquiry is revealing is a centre staffed by often young and inexperienced workers, with insufficient facilities and a confused chain of command.

The Immigration Department is careful to emphasise that contractors are responsible for the activities of their staff in the centre, and the PNG government has overall control.

The centres operate under PNG law and it is PNG which is the owner and administrator of the Manus OPC. Australia provides capacity building and funding for the centre and, by agreement with PNG, coordinates the contract administration process. Martin Bowles, department secretary, Immigration Department

But evidence from G4S immigration services managing director Chris Manning also illustrated the involvement of the Australian Immigration Department in running the centre.

"It would not be appropriate for us to write to the department of immigration in PNG without writing to the Department of Immigration in Australia. We were in a contractual partnership with them," he said.

The Salvation Army, G4S and other witnesses all raised the slow progress and uncertainty about the processing of refugee claims by the PNG government as a key contributor, if not the deciding factor in the riots in which Mr Barati died.

Again the Immigration Department says it is ultimately a matter for the PNG government, but that progress is now being made.

As of June 5, 829 transferees have had their initial entry interview. A further 385 have had an individual protection claim advice and assistance, so there has been action going all the time. There are always pauses in face-to-face activity on the centre because people need to come back with the information that they've collected from the interviews with the transferees and process them. There has been plenty of activity going on, but certainly in the minds of the transferees, they would wish for it to be quicker. Mark Cormack, deputy secretary, Immigration Department

As of June 13, the Federal Government says 1,214 men are held at the Manus Island centre.

Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, refugees, death, australia, papua-new-guinea, pacific

First posted