Dateline interview reveals detention centre rape and abuse

A whistleblower who worked at the Manus Island refugee detention centre in Papua New Guinea has told Dateline that detainees have been raped and tortured with the full knowledge of staff.

The former Head of Occupational Health and Safety, Rod St George, made a series of disturbing allegations to SBS about conditions at the Australian-run centre.

“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.”

“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.

The Immigration Department says it is “unaware of the claims in the SBS report of unreported acts of self-harm, suicide attempts or incidents of rape at the centre”.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who revealed it’s the first time he’d heard the most serious claims.

Two months ago Australian officials tried to stop Davis from filming at the detention centre.

Source: SBS, ABC.