24 Jul 2013, 7:11 am Source: Mark Davis, Dateline
A whistleblower who worked at the Manus Island refugee detention centre in Papua New Guinea has spoken out, condemning it as not even fit to 'serve as a dog kennel'.
RELATED
- Rape, torture on Manus Island: Whistleblower
- Torres Strait Islanders uneasy about PNG plan
- FactCheck: Have more than 1000 asylum seekers died at sea?
- Governments call Abbott on PNG plan claims
A whistleblower who worked at the Manus Island refugee detention centre in Papua New Guinea has spoken out, condemning it as not even fit to “serve as a dog kennel”.
The former Head of Occupational Health and Safety, Rod St George, made a series of disturbing allegations about conditions at the Australian-run centre in an exclusive interview with Dateline on SBS ONE.
“I’ve never seen human beings so destitute, so helpless and so hopeless before,” he told reporter Mark Davis, as he described repeated instances of rape and sexual abuse between asylum seekers with the full knowledge of staff.
“We might separate people in those circumstances on the mainland, but there aren’t any facilities at Manus to do that, so these people who have been assaulted are forced to remain back in the tent,” he said.
“We talk about this as an island that’s 700 kilometres north of Port Moresby… [but] if you knew there were people next door being raped and you said nothing, you’d be complicit.”
St George also described how detainee ‘heavies’ forced other asylum seekers to sew their lips together, and he detailed how one man had an ear drum perforated when he was tortured by other detainees.
And he claimed that acts of self-harm and attempted suicides are occurring “almost daily” among asylum seekers waiting months for their asylum applications to be processed.
“In Australia, the facility couldn’t even serve as a dog kennel. The owners would be jailed,” he told Dateline. “I felt ashamed to be Australian.”
St George resigned from his role after just a month.
The allegations come as the Australian Government announces all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be processed and resettled in Papua New Guinea, with the Manus Island centre to be expanded.
Dateline put the allegations to recently appointed Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who revealed it’s the first time he’d heard the most serious claims.
“I need to hear the very specific allegations, I need to make sure they’re properly investigated,” he told Mark. “If the implementation of different policies needs to be reviewed as a matter of that, then that needs to occur.”
Mr Burke asked to be put in touch with Rod St George to hear further details.
Dateline's latest revelations follow Mark’s disturbing story two months ago about life at Manus Island, when Australian officials at the detention centre went to great lengths to stop him filming.
Watch Mark's whistleblower exclusive above, and read more on the Dateline website.
Your Comments
Terry - from Williamtown, 2 hours ago
What a bloody joke this government is! The Labor Party is completely, wholey and soley responsible for this mess. In the last few months of Gillard's reign she didn't give a rat's about how many people were turning up or dying on our shores. She was way too busy knittting. Now we have this meglomaniac Kevvy trying to brainwash voters. These are really serious issues and Australia is becoming a joke globally. Blokes on boats turning up with " Fear For Your Wife" T-shirts on. WTH????
Boat people to blame!
Australian's are not to blame for anything "the illegal boat chose"to do! They alone are totally responsible for their choices and actions, destroying Australia's building's supplied by tax payers money, and using self harm etc as a black mail tool to get want they won't. In fact these tototally irresponsible criminal acts will never bring sympathy or respect from Australian's. In fact the "illegal boat peoples" actions are only serving to turn our country into a racist place.
Necessary measures
This is exactly why these people need to be detained. If this is the sort of behaviour that they deem is acceptable, they have no place in Australia.
Our leaders are a joke
This story is testament to an entire Government of useless politicians who are more interested in themselves than those of all Australians. Why does the Government ban the use of cameras in our detention centres? Because they do not want people to know the truth. I want transparency with this useless self interested Government.
Send back the culprits at Manus Island
I can't believe the government did not take steps to remove the perpetrators and return them to where they came from. Why would such people be allowed to live in Australia. You bring them in Australia and they will be causing havoc here. Why do people throw away their documents when they are genuine refugees. This very act looks dodgy to me. They want to make it hard for the intelligence officers to track their background.
The Pacific Solution
One of our visionary leaders once coined this the Pacific Solution..
Something very wrong
This is a wake up call for all Australians; do you want to be guilty of exposing people to a danger, torture and neglect your duty of care to these fellow human beings? We are all responsible of the faith of the people in Australia's detention centres. Ignorance is no defense.
png.
what a disgrace from both sides, juggling for the poplist vote.hang your head's in shame kr and ta.. the green vote is on now.
Concentration Camp
Tonight's revelations about the Concentration Camp on Manus Island, PNG, which we have no reason to think are anything but true, is under the control of Australia's Immigration Department & The ALP Federal Government of Australia. There is little to choose between what these Australians are permitting to take place there and what Josef Goebbels & Hitler's Nazis did to tens of millions of other innocents. The sole difference is the scale of the atrocity. Rudd MUST be held 100% Responsible.
Shame
Shameful Australia shameful......
Comments
Other media
Manus Island on high alert with malaria outbreak as asylum seeker detainees ...
Herald Sun
... processing facility is built on the Pacific island, 810km north of Port Moresby, next year. Locals on Manus Island told News Corp they had mixed feelings about their tropical paradise home earning the dubious title as a modern-day refugee dumping ...
See all stories on this topic »
Manus Island whistleblower speaks out
SBS
23 Jul 2013, 9:39 pm - Source: Mark Davis, Dateline. Share This. 1 0 0. + Comment. 0. A whistleblower who worked at the Manus Island refugee detention centre in Papua New Guinea has spoken out, condemning it as not even fit to “serve as a dog kennel”.
See all stories on this topic »
Whistleblower claims asylum seekers in Manus Island centre have been raped ...
ABC Online
A whistleblower who worked at the Manus Island immigration detention centre in Papua New Guinea claims detainees have been raped and tortured with the full knowledge of staff. The allegations come after the Government announced all asylum seekers ...
See all stories on this topic »
Rape, torture claims on Manus Island
BigPond News
Former head of occupational health and safety at the centre Rod St George claims acts of self-harm and attempted suicide were occurring almost daily on Manus Island. Mr St George has told SBS tonight that up to half a dozen young men were assaulted and ...
See all stories on this topic »
Whistleblower tells of rape and torture in Manus centre
The Australian
ASYLUM-seekers in detention on Manus Island have allegedly been subjected to widespread rape, torture and assault, a whistleblower has told SBS. The man, who used to work at the facility, said detainees had suffered violent assaults at the hands of ...
See all stories on this topic »
Manus Island a law unto itself: ex-guard
The Canberra Times
Manus Island sexual abuse alleged. A former security manager at Manus Island detention centre says Department of Immigration staff turned a blind eye to rapes and assaults, and warns "people will be killed" because detainees are stockpiling weapons.
See all stories on this topic »
Rape, torture claims on PNG asylum centre
SBS
Asylum seekers have been sexually abused and tortured inside Australia's processing centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, a former security guard at the facility claims. Former head of occupational health and safety at the centre, Rod St George, ...
See all stories on this topic »
Men who were raped kept in same facilities as assailants: former guard
Sydney Morning Herald
Department of Immigration staff turned a blind eye to a series of rapes and assaults at the Manus Island detention centre, a whistleblower has claimed. The startling allegations, broadcast on SBS TV's Dateline program on Tuesday night, also include ...
See all stories on this topic »
Labor to pitch PNG tent city
The Australian
LABOR will use tents and marquees to rush the expansion of Manus Island beyond its 600 capacity if necessary, in a bid to stop people-smugglers from overwhelming the Papua New Guinea asylum-seeker deal by sending a flood of new boats. Immigration ...
See all stories on this topic »
We need turnbacks to stop incomers
The Australian
Remember, the Prime Minister's policy is really just a reinstatement of the Pacific Solution anyway - he is reopening the Manus Island detention centre he shut down in 2008, and he is pledging to deny access to Australia in the same way John Howard did ...
See all stories on this topic »
Manus Island rape, torture claims
Herald Sun
Manus Island. The Manus Island camp. Picture: supplied Source: Supplied. ASYLUM seekers have been sexually abused and tortured inside Australia's processing centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, a former security guard at the facility claims.
See all stories on this topic »
Manus Island whistleblower speaks out
SBS
... has now turned whistleblower to reveal the conditions he saw there. (SBS Dateline). A whistleblower who worked at the Manus Island refugee detention centre in Papua New Guinea has spoken out, condemning it as not even fit to “serve as a dog kennel”.
See all stories on this topic »
Manus Island sexual abuse alleged
The Age
A former security manager at Manus Island detention centre says Department of Immigration staff turned a blind eye to rapes and assaults, and warns "people will be killed" because detainees are stockpiling weapons. 23/07/13. Men who were raped kept in ...
See all stories on this topic »
Tonight's Dateline: Manus whistleblower
SBS
Dateline's whistleblower interview follows Mark's disturbing story two months ago about life at Manus Island, when Australian officials at the detention centre went to great lengths to stop him filming. On Tuesday's program, Mark also puts his findings ...
See all stories on this topic »
Migrants: agreement between Canberra and Port Moresby. Church anger ...
AsiaNews.it
Friday, July 19, Kevin Rudd and Peter O'Neill - Prime Ministers of Australia and Papua New Guinea - agreed that all refugees who land on Australian shores will be shipped to the Papuan island of Manus. The asylum-seeker processing centre on the island ...
See all stories on this topic »
EXCLUSIVE: Our Contract With Manus
New Matilda
Days after Kevin Rudd's announcement that all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to Papua New Guinea, New Matilda and Detention Logs publish the contract between G4S and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship for the Manus Island ...
See all stories on this topic »
More cuts to fill huge budget hole
The Australian Financial Review
print -font +font. Reprints & permissions. More cuts to fill huge budget hole. Costs associated with expanding the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea are expected to weigh on the budget. Photo: Angela Wylie. Phillip Coorey and Jacob Greber.
See all stories on this topic »
Governments call Abbott on PNG plan claims
Perth Now
He says people should have been sent to PNG's Manus Island detention centre since the policy was announced on Friday and claims Labor is giving PNG free "cash advances" in return for its agreement. "You simply can't trust them to put it into practice ...
See all stories on this topic »
Solomon Islands are an option for asylum role
The Australian
CLAIMS OF RAPE, TORTURE ON MANUS ISLAND. Keep reading below. MIRANDA DEVINE - IN RUDD WE NO LONGER TRUST · FIRST BOAT SINCE PNG SOLUTION SETS SAIL FROM INDONESIA · TURN BACK THE BOATS - RUDD IS SLIPPING IN THE ...
See all stories on this topic »
Nauru law will come down on rioters: Burke
The Australian
... Jason Clare last year that the government needed to "address systemic threats to health and safety . . . (and) ensure appropriate critical incident measures are in place for Nauru and Manus Island" (otherwise) "destructive behavioural patterns will ...
See all stories on this topic »
Australia wants more Pacific nations to host asylum seeker processing centres ...
ABC Online
"Not a single one of them has so far gone to Manus Island, and if Mr Rudd is serious about intimidating the people smugglers and their customers, people have got to be leaving for Manus Island now," he said. Mr Abbott says that means within the next 24 ...
See all stories on this topic »
Attack puts Abbott right into no man's land
Sydney Morning Herald
... be banished indefinitely to the tiny sweat box of an island. Hence the Abbott demand that those who have arrived since Friday's announcement be sent to Manus Island ''now'' if Mr Rudd is serious about intimidating the people smugglers ...
See all stories on this topic »
PNG deal may be expanded
Sydney Morning Herald
Mr Burke slammed Mr Abbott's ''test'', saying that as a former health minister he would know it took weeks to conduct health checks and administer inoculations, especially for Manus Island. Meanwhile, Mr Abbott was partially contradicted by his senior ...
See all stories on this topic »
Hiding the name is a bid to hide the shame
The Canberra Times
Once held on Manus Island, the boat people will be invisible; they will have no stories, at least that we may hear. YOU WON'T BE SETTLED IN AUSTRALIA was stamped aggressively above the photo of the boat in the government's ad. That seems true; if ...
See all stories on this topic »
PNG deal may be expanded to other countries
The Age
Will they be sent within 24 or 48 hours of arriving in this country?'' Mr Burke slammed Mr Abbott's ''test'', saying that as a former health minister he would know it took weeks to conduct health checks and administer inoculations, especially for Manus ...
See all stories on this topic »
Imprison them for a long time, then send them back
So who is doing the raping and torture? It's the boat people themselves, right? How can anyone with a brain blame the Australian Government for this dispicable behaviour? Are these the kind of people Australia really needs in within society? Imagine the outrage if these people were Australian citizens? Charge them with the appropriate offenses, sentenced them to prison for a long time, then send them back where they came from.
You, of course, would keep your sanity
You, of course, would keep your sanity and heroically bear all the pain a cruel policy inflicted on you, you would not resist, you would keep your humanity. Brave you!
It's callous, unfeeling, uninformed people like you whose votes the pollies are harvesting by trumping each other in cruelty.
I recommend you read 'Refugees stretched on token racks' at http://www.smh.com.au/comment/refugees-stretched-on-token-racks-20130726....
You will find there the sentence, “One way or another, since 1788 a part of the population has worried about being overrun by foreigners.” This is not about stopping drownings, this is about Anglo-Celtic Australians not being able to cope with "otherness".
Cowering, hard-hearted little country, contributing to making people refugees in the first place, shirking its share of the burden of protecting them - see https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/the-day-australia-closed-the....
Funny how it's always the Anglo-Celtic Australians at fault
Funny how it's always the Anglo-Celtic Australians at fault. Give me a break!!!! There are many Aussies living in dire circumstances and the majority of them don't rape or torture others. Why don't those oil-wealthy countries help the boat people???? It's obvious by comments such as yours that reverse-racism is on the rise. By the way, my family obeyed the laws of this country and waited waited in line, without raping or torturing anyone, before they were allowed to migrate to this country.