Rowan Callick
SYDNEY (The Australian / Pacific Media Watch): Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill yesterday lambasted sections of the media - “especially the foreign media” - for publishing unverified reports about events on Manus Island that portrayed locals as violent criminals.
O’Neill also questioned the proliferation of inquiries - five now under way, with a sixth likely - into the Manus centre where 23-year-old Iranian asylum-seeker Reza Berati died during a riot on February 17.
A Senate inquiry was set in motion late on Tuesday, launched primarily by the Greens, with Labor support. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Senate investigators should travel to Manus, “and get as much information ... as possible”.
Senator Hanson-Young refused to comment on reports that Berati - an architecture graduate - had come to Australia for economic reasons.
But migration agent Marion Le said she would have encouraged Berati to return home and seek residency under Australia’s skilled migration program, which she urged the Abbott government to publicise more widely in Iran.
O’Neill issued a stern riposte to Senator Hanson-Young’s call for Senate inquiry members to travel to Manus Island.
“I should point out that Manus is part of PNG and our jurisdiction applies there,” he said.
Portrayed as warriors
He said that some media had sought “to portray Manus locals as machete-wielding warriors who knocked down the fence and attacked the asylum-seekers”.
“Reports I have received suggest that none of the Manus villagers were involved in this violence ... such unverified reports paint a very bad picture of PNG, and Manus, and this upsets me,” O’Neill said.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Canberra was working with Port Moresby on “a comprehensive independent review’’ in synchronisation with the police investigation and coronial inquiry.
“We support the government of PNG responding to any requests made by the Greens/Labor Senate inquiry as they deem appropriate, as it relates to their sovereign jurisdiction,’’ Morrison said.
“The Greens and Labor can’t go round arrogantly treating PNG as if independence never happened. It’s no longer a territory under trust. They are a valued partner and should be treated like one.’’
The Australian government has appointed former Attorney-General’s Department secretary Robert Cornall to head its inquiry.
The PNG government is conducting a whole-of-government inquiry, and the PNG national police force is also carrying out a more detailed investigation following a preliminary report presented last week.
A PNG judge, David Cannings - who came from Australia - will visit Manus Island on March 10 to evaluate the human rights situation there, to assess whether constitutional requirements are being met.
O’Neill urged “all interested parties” to allow the investigations to be completed and not speculate on what happened in the Australian-run immigration detention centre.
“These investigations are being carried out in a very professional manner. When they are completed, the findings will give us a clear picture of what happened at the centre that night,” he said.
O’Neill had told parliament that anyone found to have breached PNG law would be dealt with decisively. “We will also put in place measures to prevent such things happening again at the centre,” O’Neill said. He welcomed Justice Cannings’ visit to the centre, and urged all officials there to co-operate with him and ensure all his queries were answered without reservation.
A sixth inquiry is being foreshadowed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. In her annual report to be presented in Geneva today she is expected to say: “Recent violence ... on Manus Island ... has underscored the need to review the regional resettlement arrangements.”
Rowan Callick is Asia-Pacific editor of The Australian.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
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