Scott Morrison under pressure to resign over handling of Manus Island riot
The Federal Opposition is targeting the Immigration Minister and his handling of the Manus Island riot, with one Labor senator calling for Scott Morrison to resign and another accusing him of having "blood on his hands".
Last week, one asylum seeker was killed and about another 60 injured - some seriously - in a protest at the Manus Island detention centre.
Mr Morrison issued a statement late on Saturday to "correct the record" about the location of the violence after initially saying most of the trouble had occurred outside the centre.
He said new information indicated "the majority of the riotous behaviour" took place within the fences of the facility.
He said the new advice "casts further doubt" on the initial information he had that the man who was killed, 23-year-old Iranian Reza Berati, was injured outside the centre.
AUDIO: Shorten stops short of calling for Morrison's sacking (The World Today) Mr Morrison said the man had severe head injuries, but an investigation is continuing into how he received those injuries.
West Australian Labor Senator Sue Lines says the Minister's handling of the issue has been disgraceful.
"Does Scott Morrison have blood on his hands? He definitely has blood on his hands," she said.
"The more he tries to shirk the issue, the more he pretends to be the tough cop on the beat - hopefully the Australian public will see the truth behind this."
Asylum seeker Reza Berati PHOTO: Asylum seeker Reza Berati died in a riot on Manus Island on February 17. (Supplied) And Labor colleague Doug Cameron has joined the Greens in calling for Mr Morrison to resign or be sacked.
"I'd like to see Morrison step down," he said.
"I'd like to see someone with a bit of compassion in there as well. These are human beings that we're dealing with and ... people treat this as though it's some political game or it's some pub fight.
"There is a real problem there and I think Scott Morrison is just in attack mode all the time and that's not good enough."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has stopped short of calling for Mr Morrison to be sacked, but says the incident is "as serious as it gets".
"The death of a young man and the implication that once he was outside the wire that he was taking the risk upon himself, this turning out to be false and he died within a facility run by Australian-funded contractors, Australian Government-funded contractors, that's as serious as it gets," he told ABC Local Radio in Melbourne.
Abbott draws criticism for 'wimp' remark
The Opposition has also criticised the Prime Minister's defence of Mr Morrison as an "outstanding minister".
Yesterday, Tony Abbott knocked back Greens' calls for the Minister to be sacked by saying: "You don't want a wimp running border protection, you want someone who is strong, who is decent and Scott Morrison is both strong and decent."
Mr Shorten has criticised the "muscularity" of the statement.
"Tony Abbott says he doesn't want a wimp for a minister. I just want someone who knows what's going on," Mr Shorten said this morning.
Labor's Immigration spokesman Richard Marles says he is "appalled" by the language.
"These are comments which are more suited to a school yard than a statesman," he said.
"This is not a macho contest."
This morning, Mr Morrison continued to defend his handling of the issue and referred to inquiries by the PNG government and his department into the incident.
"There are still a lot of questions to be answered - I have a lot of questions that I want to be answered - just like I think the media does, but more importantly, the Australian people, and people in Papua New Guinea want answers, and that's what the reviews are about," he told AM.
Morrison launches counter-attack on Labor
In Question Time, the Minister responded to Opposition queries about the flow of information by saying that on Saturday it became "essential to correct the record".
He told Parliament the Immigration Department's inquiry into the matter will look at "all of the issues that relate to this incident", including those stemming from Labor's time in government.
"That will include how this centre was specified, and who set it up and how it was set up," Mr Morrison said.
"It'll go into the performance of the service contractors that those opposite contracted, it will go into the security arrangements that were put in place and left to the Opposition when we formed government.
"It'll go into all of those and it'll go into the conduct of myself and those on this side and our handling of these issues since we took over responsibility for these centres."
Mr Morrison also launched a counter-attack on Labor, criticising former immigration minister Tony Burke for his handling of last year's riot at the detention centre on Nauru.
"It took him a full week to front the Australian people to announce the review into the Nauru processing centre that burnt down on his watch - it was a melt down on your watch," he accused Mr Burke in Parliament.
Mr Burke, now Manager of Opposition Business, protested that it was not relevant to the question.
"There are no end of opportunities for political point-scoring - we are dealing with an issue where a man has died," he said.
