Hanson-Young: my visits not to blame for detention centre unrest

THE Greens senator has dismissed a report which blamed her visit to Christmas Island in January as the catalyst for disturbances.

Sarah Hanson-Young denies her visits to detention centres have sparked unrest.

GREENS senator Sarah Hanson-Young denies her visits to detention centres have sparked unrest among detainees, insisting the government’s policies are designed to be “as harmful as possible”.

The South Australian senator this morning dismissed news of an internal report by security contractor Serco to the Immigration Department that “high profile” visits by politicians, lawyers and refugee advocates had increased “incidents” and “adverse behaviour” among detainees.

The document noted Senator Hanson-Young’s January visit to Christmas Island as the catalyst for serious disturbances, during which the number of reportable incidents more than doubled to 15 from around six, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The report did not specify the type of incidents but noted “anxiety” and “elevated levels of adverse behaviour” during the senator’s visit, the newspaper reported.

The report comes three weeks after a former director of offshore processing in Australia’s immigration detention camps, Greg Lake, told The Australian asylum-seekers were being coached and encouraged to attempt self-harm by refugee advocates who then use the incidents as political capital.

Advocates ‘coaching’ self-harm

Senator Hanson-Young this morning described the newspaper report as “a beat-up” from Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s office to restrict information about “the self-harm and suffering” in mandatory detention.

“This is the first I’ve heard of such a report. The minister’s never bothered to speak to me or the department speak to me about this before,” Senator Hanson-Young told Sky News.

“Who believes for a moment that this Minister cares about the welfare of these people? He wants policy to be as harsh and as harmful as possible to act as a deterrent. He doesn’t care about people harming themselves; he thinks that’s moral blackmail.”

Tony Abbott on July 9 insisted the government would not be “held over a moral barrel” or subjected to “moral blackmail” by asylum-seekers threatening self-harm over their living conditions.

Senator Hanson-Young also cast doubt on the government’s definition of an “incident” saying a media leak from inside a detention centre qualified as a “critical incident”.

She said the government should release all incident reports from detention centres “in real time” so the public can learn about what is occurring.

“This smacks of political game-playing by the department, by the minister, all as a result of trying to distract from the real issue. And the result of it is less accountability, less transparency.”

Senator Hanson-Young, asked specifically about the Christmas Island visit in January, told ABC Radio: “There was no trouble. If anything more people wanted to talk to me than the department would allow.”