Manus Island: Morrison concedes he was wrong.

[i-need-a-martini]

So it looks like all of the initial reports that Fairfax were printing were correct:

The death and injuries occurred INSIDE the compound by staff using unlawful force.

Unbelievable. Can you imagine the terror those (unarmed) boys and men must have felt?

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/scott-morrison-admits--information-he-gave-on-...

[i-need-a-martini]

As a related aside it is interesting to note that The Daily Telegraph has still not reported Morrisons concessions even though they reported on the same press conferences. Instead they focused the negatives of Morrisons comments including this as their closing summary:

“There was riotous behaviour throughout the compound and internal fences had been knocked down and the service providers were seeking to restore order,” he said, adding that most injuries were sustained inside the compound.

Mr Morrison also defended the decision of the PNG police to detain arrested asylum seekers in a metal cage, the only jail on Manus Island, with murderers and rapists.

“If you act up in Lorengau, that’s where you will find yourself. That’s the local police cell,” Mr Morrison said.

Still no acknowledgement that a man died and scores injured whilst in our care. Somehow it was all their fault and the punishment being dished out now is well deserved. Onya Murdoch!

Is THIS the kind of 'information' we should have been discussing instead of the 'misinformation' from reputable sources that turned out to be the truth?

[colic2bullsgirlore]

"This security firm has now been sacked & the Transfield company will take over."

They were actually told their contract would not be renewed months ago.... for...wait for it..mismanagement.....

nothing to do with the latest incident (other than proving the fact that Morrison knew of their mismanagement prior to the incident)

... but please... just spin away

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/05/manus-island-detention-centre-operator-never-fined-for-...

Wednesday 5 February 2014 15.48 EST

The Department of Immigration has never financially penalised G4S, the service provider that ran the Manus Island processing centre, despite ongoing concerns over its management of the facility.

G4S ran the Manus Island processing facility where asylum seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are held, but lost the contract for the facility in January after a series of bungles.

By the way I see Morrison no longer reuires the "sally's" humanitarion effort either/// So who is supplying the counselling now

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/13/salvation-army-humanitarian-work-on-manus-and-nauru-to-...

The Salvos held a $74m contract with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to provide services including counselling to asylum seekers held offshore.

A spokesman for the Salvation Army confirmed this contract would not be renewed when it ends on 31 January 2014.

It was unclear who would administer these services after then or if these services would continue.

Guardian Australia understands that senior staff from the Salvos and G4S were told by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, on Thursday evening their contracts would not be renewed.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/64446

Gotta love the foreign press.. a PNG newspaper editorial from Friday

Manus means blood on our hands

Source: 

The National, Friday February 21st, 2014

 IF doing Australia a good turn as a loyal friend and neighbour means being a party to making the lives of hundreds of refugees miserable and untenable than Papua New Guinea has allowed itself to be part of something cruel and undemocratic. 

We have blood on our hands, and it is in cahoots with Australia’s single-minded and stubborn border security policy of off-shore processing that we have been dragged into a morass that is entirely our neighbour’s doing. 

The Iranian killed this week, apparently at the hands of authorities, highlights what an unmitigated disaster the Manus detention centre is turning out to be. 

The tension and unrest among asylum seekers locked up in Manus is palpable. 

The recent protests and ensuing violence is the natural result of keeping desperate people in cruel and inhumane conditions – not just in the environment they have been forced to endure but the uncertainty and hopelessness of their predicament. 

If people are treated like caged animals then sooner rather than later something will give. 

What now needs to be done is a thorough investigation into the circumstances in which a detainee in a cramped processing centre could end up getting killed in demonstrations that turned violent. 

Who were the asylum seekers protesting to and why was not the situation managed better?

When will the PNG police, Australian authorities and  the security firm employed there tell us the truth.

[i-need-a-martini]

---

By the way I see Morrison no longer reuires the "sally's" humanitarion effort either/// So who is supplying the counselling now

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/13/salvation-army-humanitarian-work-on-manus-and-nauru-to-...

The Salvos held a $74m contract with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to provide services including counselling to asylum seekers held offshore.

A spokesman for the Salvation Army confirmed this contract would not be renewed when it ends on 31 January 2014.

It was unclear who would administer these services after then or if these services would continue.

Guardian Australia understands that senior staff from the Salvos and G4S were told by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, on Thursday evening their contracts would not be renewed.

---

And there is another thing we were supposed to be given "information" about when the announcement was made last year. Yet it has never come.

Not only were the Salvos providing counselling and support, they were also providing the educational and recreational requirements needed to keep 1000+ men busy.

So even though a report by Amnesty (or the UN?) reflects on the possibility of rioting at Manus if the above isn't managed well, the government does the opposite and actually REMOVES the only source of support these people have.

And god forbid anyone who speaks out in support of these voiceless people - we now know they also get suspended on the spot.

[i-need-a-martini]

Well good luck to the PNGians if they want to hear some truth. I hope they know not to hold their breath waiting.

[windrake]

I agree that more information should be available in an orderly way but we all saw the disaster of that type of behaviour that befell Labor, every day every Labor MP was in front of the cameras trying to explain away the comic tragedy played out in their party to the extent that they forgot to govern and destroyed themselves.

Minister Morrison can only impart the information he is given until the full investigation is done. All we know at this time is the detainees rioted so we can only imagine what that was like & how it got totally out of control & the security staff had to do what they could to quell that, it must have been horrific.

To call Minister Morrison a liar is a bit of a stretch & the ones who cried for more information & he gives out the information he was given in a rushed manner is not the fault of the Minister.

This whole problem of thousands of people in detention &  the present new government is trying to deal with it lies at the feet of Labor & all the hate being written is just a lot of the left disappointment that they  no longer have the government they want. That is democracy.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

---

@windrake wrote:

Minister Morrison can only impart the information he is given until the full investigation is done. All we know at this time is the detainees rioted so we can only imagine what that was like & how it got totally out of control & the security staff had to do what they could to quell that, it must have been horrific.

 

---

See if you can find out who now has the salvation armies expired contract......nobody that's who..... Morrisons comments from December when specifically asked below

http://hazaraasylumseekers.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/salvation-army-humanitarian-work-on-manus-and-na...

At his weekly press conference (remember those) on Friday afternoon,

Morrison announced that a range of contracts were due to expire at the end of January and the department did not have provisions to renew them.

He said there would be some savings from the reduced number of asylum seekers arriving at the detention centres but the government was reviewing the contracts for “efficiencies” and would be making comments in the coming weeks.

Morrison did not elaborate on the termination of the Salvos’ contract when asked specifically about it.

“I wouldn’t be making any comment on those matters at this stage, only to say that the contract arrangements for our offshore operations are in the process of being determined with a view to improving our operational effectiveness at all of those centres based on everything we’ve been gleaning for the past 13 weeks since we’ve been in office,”he said.

When told the Salvation Army had confirmed the contract termination, Morrison refused to say whether another provider would be brought in to provide the services, saying: “I provided the answer I’m giving today.”

[vampire-teddy]

it is funny that people who ran the last government down for everything are now making excuses for this disgusting excuse for a government who deliberately mislead people.  between the immigration minister and his  combination of non disclosure and misinformation and our prime minister who runs out on interviews when the questions get too hard and makes totally ludicrous statements we are in trouble.  the other night TA made a statement about asking if there had been other government programs that had caused deaths but disappeared before anyone had a chance to reply.... snowy river scheme, harbour bridge, oh and Manus Island for a few.  it is about time we dealt with asylum seekers on our shores in a humane way.  if they are not genuine fine deport them but if they are process them and let them into society.  keeping them locked up especially children is not productive, economically viable or decent.  the last government might have been a nightmare but this one is a complete disgrace and incompetent.   gillard was ripped apart for replacing rudd but i wonder how long it will be before the NLP has to do exactly the same thing and replace Abbot just as Newman will be need to be replaced in Qld where he is getting a hiding.   

[boris1gary]

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Amnesty international interim report on the conditions on Manus Island... Morrison is either 1. illiterate or 2 . politically

liable. I pick 2 .... He knew of the probability of protests and of the conditions as reported by an outside source from the

recrimination below.... yet all we here is "no boaty,boat, boats' .... lifes good now shutup voters and pull your head in"

11 December 2013, 08:00PM

http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/33594/

Deplorable conditions

“This system of harsh conditions and humiliating treatment is a deliberate effort to pressure people to return to the desperate situations they have fled from.

Australia is directly responsible for this deplorable and unlawful combination of arbitrary detention and inhumane conditions,” said Amnesty International Australia’s National Director Claire Mallinson.

Contemplating suicide

Some told how they have contemplated suicide because of the harsh and humiliating conditions.

One 43-year old Iraqi said: “I have lived in war zones, with bombs and explosions.

I have never experienced what I am experiencing here with the uncertainty we face. If we had died in the ocean that would have been better.”