The sordid history of 12 years of offshore detention
In August 2012 Prime Minister Julia Gilliard reopened Manus and Nauru as places of offshore detention. The people sent to these places, men women and children, were later able to come to Australia and eventually received permanent protection visas. They were not joined to the legacy caseload who arrived at a similar time but under the fast track process are still fighting for permanent protection visas.
On 19 July 2013, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of PNG and a week or so later he signed a similar one with the government of Nauru. People sent to Manus were told their choice was to accept resettlement in PNG. People sent to Nauru were told that they would have up to 20-year visas but that Nauru would not offer resettlement.
Rudd, and later Prime Minister Tony Abbott, stated that no one who arrived by boat after 19 July 2013 would come to Australia. But as boats arrived in the months afterwards, a third of the people were sent to Manus, a third of the people were sent to Nauru, and a third of the people came to Australia via Christmas Island, which was emptied by the end of December 2014.
In October 2013, Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison brought in Operation Sovereign Borders and “on water matters” became shrouded in secrecy. Orange lifeboats were used to turn people back. It’s unknown how many of these lifeboats made it back to Indonesia.
At the same time protests began by the all-male population of the detention centre on Manus Island due to claims not being processed. To complicate matters, the men sent to Manus Island were told by Australians that people in PNG were all cannibals and the local population on Manus were told that the prisoners sent to Manus Island were all terrorists. Not ideal conditions for a successful forced resettlement. Despite all the warnings that violence was expected, nothing was done.
On 16 February 2014, local people and employees of the centre launched an attack. In the early hours of 17 February, Reza Barati was beaten to death. Sixty-two of the approximately 200 injured men were carried out to a pre-prepared area near the barge used for staff accommodation. At least four had permanent injuries including loss of an eye and an acquired brain injury. Other injuries included broken limbs, facial injuries, machete and gunshot wounds.
The contractors G4S and Salvation Army were replaced by Transfield (later to be renamed Broadspectrum) and Wilson Security. The compounds had military names like Bravo, Charlie, Mike, Delta, Foxtrot and Oscar. Mike, Oscar, Foxtrot and Delta were the main accommodation compounds where bunk beds were crammed in, raw sewage flowed between compounds at high tide when it rained and diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and typhoid were endemic.
Likewise on Nauru there were protests against the torrid conditions where black mould was so thick, it sparked a senate inquiry in Australia. The tents in RPC 3 were for families and single women. Showers were limited to two minutes and guards offered longer showers to women if they could watch them. Rape and rape threats were common on both Manus and Nauru.
The last boats to arrive with people sent to Nauru, arrived in June 2014. On 22 June, Sayed Ibrahim Hussein drowned off Nauru. On 5 September, Hamid Khazaei died from a lack of timely and appropriate medical treatment from sepsis in a cut foot – evacuated too late to Brisbane.
On 26 September 2014, Morrison signed a $40 million deal with Cambodia for that country to resettle refugees from Nauru.
In November 2014, the Human Rights Commission released the Forgotten Children report written from evidence Gillian Triggs had obtained while visiting people detained on Christmas Island. The last group of asylum-seekers were sent to Nauru.
In December 2014, Morrison made a deal to remove the children and families from Christmas Island in order to end permanent protection visas and bring in Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs). These people became part of the legacy caseload and the processing of their claims was excruciatingly slow in Australia. Later, it was found that Morrison had sat on reports of child abuse on Nauru and did nothing.
About the same time two women with their families arrived in Darwin to give birth and refused to get off the bus to be detained in a detention centre as they had refugee status. The stand off ended but after the births, like many others they were eventually forced back to Nauru. One of the babies was sent back mere months after open heart surgery to correct a defect.
Morrison was replaced by Peter Dutton as Immigration Minister.
In January 2015, the largest hunger strike of more than 900 men lasted for half the month on Manus Island. Photos and videos smuggled out showed men digging under fences to get bottles of water which authorities were denying them as a way to pressure the men to stop their protest.
Sky writing over Parliament House reminded politicians we had not forgotten Manus or Nauru.
On 27 January the hunger strike ended violently. Guards in full riot gear wielding batons and shields stormed the compounds beating up unarmed, weakened men and rounding up who they thought were ringleaders. Lights had been turned off and the darkened video could only record the screams and cries for help. The “ringleaders” were initially sent to the prison in Lorengau before forced back into the detention centre.
The previous year it had been revealed that Australia was operating a secret compound called Chauka that did not appear on any maps. It consisted of windowless shipping containers.
Refugees from both islands were regularly medically transferred to Australia due to poor health and, usually without warning and sometimes with their treatment incomplete, whisked away in the middle of the night back to Manus or Nauru.
In 2015 Dutton ended the policy of transferring pregnant women to Australia to give birth and, to encourage compliance with being returned to the island, regularly split families.
In the aftermath of Reza Barati’s death the year before, some Iranian and Kurdish men had withdrawn from having their claims processed since the only prospect was resettlement in PNG or go back to their country of origin. In August 2015 three Iranian men were grabbed in quick succession. All three had passports in their surrendered personal property. The first two were pressured into signed to go back to Iran. The third didn’t sign but was forced back anyway.
The next month all other Iranians and Kurdish asylum-seekers were brought to see immigration one at a time. The recording of one of these interviews clearly included a male and a female Australian Border Force (ABF) or Australian Federal Police officers. Also present was a female interpreter.
Why aren’t you having your claim processed. You know that if you don’t, you’ll be sent back to danger. Do you want to be sent back to danger? If you don’t want to be sent back to danger, you should agree to have your claim processed.
About the same time a Syrian man was forced back to Syria when the civil war was at its height and streams of refugees were fleeing towards Europe. Dutton appeared on the ABC and insisted that the return was voluntary. He was never questioned about the guards that accompanied the refugee or the attempt to escape during a stopover on the flight to Syria.
In the second half of 2015 the Human Rights Legal Centre (HRLC) was gearing up to fight a case against the legality of detention on Nauru based on the funding arrangement. To thwart this, the government of Nauru suddenly opened the doors and declared no one was locked up despite the guards and security processes. The Coalitiion government with the help of the Labor opposition rushed through legislation to legalise the funding of offshore detention and made it retrospective.
In February 2016 the HRLC lost their case. A Brisbane hospital refused to discharge baby Asha back into detention and this became the rallying point for the “Let Them Stay” campaign. In the aftermath, those in detention in Australia for medical reasons were slowly released into the community instead of being forced back to Manus and Nauru. Forced removals to Manus or Nauru still happened but they were less frequent. ABF increasingly sent sick refugees to Taiwan and PNG for medical treatment.
On 29 April 2016, Omid Masoumali died in Brisbane from severe burns after self-immolating on Nauru. Malcolm Turnbull faced the cameras and told us not to get misty eyed. Dutton falsely blamed refugee advocates for encouraging self-harm. A week later a Somali girl attempted self-immolation after being forced back to Nauru but survived horrific injuries and even now requires constant care.
In the same week the supreme court of PNG declared detention illegal and the centre on Manus was opened up to allow not only the use of mobile phones but daily buses to the local town of Lorengau.
On 11 May, Rakib Khan died on Nauru of unknown causes after two days of chest pains. On 2 August, Kamil Hussain died at a waterfall on Manus Island.
The Nauru files were released detailing 2116 separate incidents of assaults, sexual abuse, child abuse and self-harm attempts at the detention centre on Nauru. Some of these were already part of the Moss report.
In November 2016, Turnbull announced the US deal to resettle refugees after 3.5 years of telling refugees they had no hope. The Cambodian deal was a failure. And whether refugees or asylum-seekers, people were constantly pressured to go back to where they came from.
On 24 December 2016, Faysal Ishak Ahmed died on Manus Island after months of raising health concerns that weren’t treated.
In 2016 and 2017, refugees in both RPC 3 and RPC on Nauru protested on a daily basis at the gates of the detention centre. Much like Manus, welfare services were provided by a construction company on Nauru – Canstruct. The company, an LNP donor, was awarded well over a billion dollars.
In 2017 it was announced that the detention centre on Manus Island would close. Tremendous pressure was put on the men to either accept resettlement in PNG or to go back to where they came from. Daily protests happened on Manus Island.
On 7 August, 2017 Hamed Shamshiripour was found hanging in the jungle on Manus Island.
In September 2017, Dutton announced the fast track process, which would release refugees from community detention in Australia, placing them in the position of needing accommodation and jobs while on short-term visas, alongside the cohort who arrived when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister.
On 2 October Rajeev Rajendran was found hanging at the hospital in Lorengau.
The compounds on Manus Island started being dismantled and bulldozed in May 2017. On 31 October all the staff left. The men were given weeks’ worth of medication and a few microwave meals. The electricity was cut. Dodgy contracts were awarded to Paladin and JDA for security services and health services changed from IHMS to PIH (Pacific International Hospital).
The next morning Senator Nick McKim came through the gates and offered his solidarity to the remaining 450 men at the detention centre. For three weeks the men held out. Food was smuggled in. Wells were dug. Authorities smashed the water tanks. On 24 November 2017, police came in large numbers and beat all the remaining men with metal bars, broke their belongings and forced them into the three newly built detention centres at Lorengau – East Lorengau, West Lorengau Haus and Hillside Haus. Some of the accommodation was incomplete.
On 2 November 2017, Jahangir died in a motorbike accident on Nauru.
Since the US deal had been announced only a handful of people had been resettled in 2017. Families on Nauru worried that asking for medial help would put their US process at risk and stopped asking for help.
In January 2018 the health of children on Nauru deteriorated further. Self-harm, attempted suicide and resignation syndrome was rife. The National Justice Project fought legal battles in courtrooms where judges ordered the government to evacuate sick children. The Kids off Nauru campaign ensured the majority of children on Nauru had been medically evacuated to Australia. But they were very badly damaged by their five-year detention experience.
On 22 May 2018, Salim Kyawning died from head injuries after jumping from a moving bus on Manus.
On 15 June, Fariborz Karami was found dead in his tent on Nauru.
The Australian government still resisted bringing refugees to Australia for medical treatment.
Morrison rolled Turnbull to become the next Prime Minister. Turnbull resigned from parliament and Dr Kerryn Phelps won the by-election for Wentworth. Early 2019, legislation commonly known as the Medevac Bill passed parliament. Sick and injured refugees began arriving in Australia but instead of receiving treatment, they were locked up in hotel detention.
The first arrivals were sent to Kangaroo Point in Brisbane and by July 2019 refugees from both PNG and Nauru were sent to Melbourne, firstly to the Mantra Hotel in Preston and then to the Park Hotel in Carlton.
The first releases were in December 2020, with larger groups released in January 2021. Refugees released were given six-month visas. Many still pursued permanent resettlement options in the US and now New Zealand. Funding for the remaining refugees in Port Moresby was cut in accordance with memorandums of understanding signed by the Morrison and then Albanese governments to transfer responsibility for the remaining refugees on PNG.
Meanwhile on Nauru a perpetual agreement came into force to ensure there would always be a detention centre on the island.
I’ll finish with what the alternative could have been. A health check. A security check. And just processing the claim for asylum in a compassionate, responsible and professional manner.
By Margaret Sinclair
