Transcript
Australia's Immigration Minister says he won't tolerate any sexual abuse in the Nauru offshore processing centre. But Peter Dutton has accused asylum seekers on Nauru of making false claims of abuses, describing the leaked documents as "hype".
"If people have done the wrong thing, whether it's security guards, whether its people in our employ directly or elsewhere, then there's a price to pay for that. But bear in mind that some people do have a motivation to make a false claim and we have had instances where people have self-harmed in an effort to get to Australia, and I'm not going to tolerate that behaviour either."
The leaked documents point towards systematic and extensive abuse on Nauru. However, the Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul says the documents simply substantiate what has been revealed beyond doubt in earlier reports, including the government-commissioned Moss Report in early 2015.
"It was the government's own review, and in spite of what they thought was going to be the outcome of that, Moss said the reports were true. Peter Dutton knows the reports are true; Malcolm Turnbull knows the reports about what's happening on Nauru are true, and yet they are choosing to turn a blind eye, trying to divert attention from the horrors that they've actually created there."
Ian Rintoul is in daily communications with many of those held in the Nauru centre. He says the extent of the sexual assault and rape on Nauru is beyond belief - the country's law enforcement system, plus the Australian Federal Police presence on the island, offers refugees little protection. As Human Rights Watch's Elaine Pearson concludes, after the NGO's recent research on Nauru, the most vulnerable people are being hung out to dry.
"The issue comes when you have a population of refugees and asylum seekers who have already had a number of issues previous to arriving in the country. They may have psychiatric issues, mental health concerns, compounded by prolonged periods in detention. These people have very specific needs and Australia knows very well what is the impact of mandatory detention on populations because those policies have been in place in Australia for a very long time."
Australia's Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs says an inquiry is needed to determine whether charges should be laid.
"It has to be acknowledged that these are allegations, and it's not clear from what I've been able to see of the materials whether they've been substantiated or what has been done in relation to them. But I think the key point is that this is a consistent pattern of assault, many of them sexual."
The revelations have led to renewed calls for Australia's offshore processing centres to be closed, and for the detainees to be brought to the mainland. However Peter Dutton is standing firm, saying if they sought to get to Australia by boat, they will never settle there.
