IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison says he won’t be intimidated into closing the Manus Island detention centre amid calls for him to be sacked.
Labor is demanding Mr Morrison explain what he knew about the Manus Island riot, after backflipping on details about slain asylum seeker Reza Berati.
Mr Morrison told a media conference in Sydney this afternoon he was told on Saturday that he had misinformed the public about the violence that occurred inside the Manus Island detention centre.
Mr Morrison said he had been wrong to assure the Australian public on Tuesday that the Manus riot - which led to a death of Mr Berati - had occured outside the dentention centre.
The Manus Island detention centre would remain open, he said.
“I very much want to get to the bottom of what happened here,” Mr Morrison said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott back his embattled minister this afternoon, saying he was the right man for the job.
“You don’t want a wimp running border protection, you want someone strong and decent,” Mr Abbott said. “And Scott Morrison is both strong and decent.”
Mr Morrison now says the majority of the “riotous behaviour” that resulted in the death of an Iranian man and left 62 other asylum seekers injured happened inside the Papua New Guinea facility.
“The further information I have now received casts further doubt on the initial advice that his injuries were sustained outside the centre,” he said in a statement issued just before 9pm (AEDT) on Saturday night.
Mr Morrison also raised questions about G4S, the security firm which runs the centre housing 1300 asylum seekers.
He reiterated it was in the best interests of people being held in detention centres to “conduct themselves appropriately”, adding that security workers must also behave properly.
“Service providers must conduct themselves lawfully and consistent with the service standards set out in their contract,” he said.
LOCALS JOINED RIOT POLICE IN MANUS ISLAND VIOLENCE
Greens leader Christine Milne has called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott ot sack Mr Morrison, and for the detention centre to be shut down immediately.
She accused Mr Morrison of repeatedly misleading the Australian public over Manus Island. “Prime Minister Abbott must take personal responsibility for the death of Reza Berati on Manus Island,” Senator Milne told reporters in Hobart.
“He must close down Manus Island immediately and sack his minister Scott Morrison.” Mr Abbott and Mr Morrison had a duty of care for asylum seekers at the Manus Island facility, she said.
“A young man has been murdered in their care,” she said.
Labor frontbencher and former immigration minister Chris Bowen said the minister had a “lot of explaining to do”.
“These are difficult circumstances, and as a former immigration minister I think the primary responsibility on Scott Morrison is to be up front with the Australian people, to be transparent,” Mr Bowen told ABC TV today.
“And if he thinks a written statement at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night is being transparent, then he is sadly mistaken.” He called on Mr Morrison to say when he found out his previous claim about the riot was wrong.
“He should be up front with the Australian people about exactly when he was informed that what he had previously said was so completely and grievously incorrect,” Mr Bowen said.
