Updated

An anonymous informant has told Barrie Cassidy that Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has misrepresented the facts around a shooting at the Manus Island detention centre for political advantage, and has alleged that Border Force staff are being asked to "become politically biased".

Source: ABC News | Duration: 2min 24sec

Topics: government-and-politics, immigration, australia

Transcript

It's now three weeks since the Good Friday disturbance on Manus Island and still there is no formal finding as to what caused it. What caused PNG soldiers to fire shots into the accommodation blocks?

What I do have now is an account of the disturbance by a witness: a Border Force officer who passed this on to my informant — a former immigration officer.

The Border Force officer said the refugees had been on the playing fields when PNG officials asked them to go back to their accommodation in order to comply with a 6pm curfew. They refused, and after mutual insults, a scuffle broke out.

According to the officer, a few of the PNG staff started shooting in the air to disperse the group. There was, he said, mutual taunting. Some of the PNG staff got irate about that, and — armed with their weapons — chased the refugees back into their compound.

So here's the key question: How then could an incident a week earlier involving a young boy have any impact on that disturbance, given that account?

The Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, insists it was a factor — that the locals feared a young boy led into the centre might be subjected to a sexual assault.

The refugees and the police commander insist the boy was hungry, he wanted food, he was taken inside, given fruit, and he left.

Well my informant, a former Commonwealth officer, says that when she discussed this with the Border Force officer, he laughed and said there was no such incident. But after further media coverage of the event he became distressed and upset that his colleagues had been misrepresented.

He thought about raising the issue with officials in Canberra, but that would have been outside his chain of command.

He worried about a lack of whistleblower protection, and in any case the staff had specific instructions not to talk to anyone. He felt hamstrung about correcting the record.

My informant says she is becoming increasingly concerned for her friends, who she says are being asked to "become politically biased" and that is hampering their ability to meet their obligations as Commonwealth officers.

She insists — based on her conversations with the Border Force officer — that the Minister has misrepresented the facts for what appears to be political advantage.

The inquiries should get to the bottom of that. And certainly the release of the CCTV footage at the camp will help determine whether her instincts are right or wrong.