Robert Cornall’s report into February’s violence at the Manus Island immigration detention centre has finally been handed down. It makes clear that contractors working for the Australian government are responsible for the death of one asylum seeker, the serious injury of others, and the mass trauma of dozens.
Cornall’s horrific findings do not come as a surprise to us, nor to the numerous current and former staff members of the centre who have tried to speak out about the racist attitudes of expat staff, violence and rape between detainees, high number of inexperienced local staff, and an alarming lack of procedure at the Australian-run centre.
Months before the violence, former G4S OH&S manager Rod St George described the situation on Manus as a tinderbox ready to explode.
Weeks before it, former G4S safety and security officer Martin Appleby quit in disgust that he could not get management at the island to take seriously his concerns about the violent and volatile conditions.
“I couldn’t handle what was going on; no one wanted to listen,” he told Crikey yesterday. “I wrote many reports, and nothing was ever taken up. The lead-up to the [recent violence] started a long time ago.”
What is clear is that Reza Berati did not have to die: long before his death, whistleblowers gave us the information necessary to prevent his tragic fate.
What remains to be answered is why, on the morning after Berati’s death, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison laid the blame for the unrest at the feet of asylum seekers.
We challenge the minister to come clean on when he knew that his own contractors were in fact responsible for this shameful death in custody.
This is “good publicity” for Scrott. Worth a promotion.
As usual the pickering post has the true details on the murdered queue jumper why have the facts of his leading the riot being ignored by the abc and crikey prefering to beat it up
Morrison has already said he didn’t think the security was up to scratch at Manus Island when he first visited and yet because they had been all hairy chested point of difference they put a 48hr time limit on removal from the secure centre on Christmas Island to Manus.. that is the root cause of the problem…in the past the minister would have resigned..
Mr Morrison is what he appears to be in his press conferences. An arrogant, belligerent snob who holds any question challenging his opinion in contempt. That’s why he now polls up with the top runners as a replacement for Abbott. They just don’t get it, do they….
@Bruce Pike
So Larry Pickering knows more than everyone else? Is he a mate of Scott Morrison?
“queue jumper”… yeah, we all know where you’re head is at. I suppose you believe it is all the fault of the Asylum Seeker, eh? Why were all the warnings about violence ignored? It is almost like the government actually wanted something like a riot to happen… Surely not! 😉
The majority of Australians believe the ABC over any other media in the country.. but not you, eh “Bruce”. You think the ABC is biased. The real question for you Bruce is: why are you reading Crikey?