Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. The minister has stated that information of conflicting versions of events was presented to him last Tuesday, yet that afternoon the minister stated:

When people engage in violent acts and in disorderly behaviour and breach fences and get involved in that sort of behaviour and go to the other side of the fence, well they will be subject to law enforcement as applies in Papua New Guinea.

If there was the slightest bit of doubt about where Mr Berati's death occurred, why did the minister say these words?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is true that if people engage in riotous behaviour inside the fence or outside the fence then there will need to be actions taken by the appropriate authorities whether they are outside the fence or inside the fence to restore order, but at all times those persons in restoring order must act lawfully. And it is important that, when you select service providers to provide security in places like this, you select service providers that have the appropriate briefs and arrangements in place to ensure that they act appropriately in those situations. Where they breach those conditions, if they were to breach those conditions, then obviously they would be matters that would be subject to review and subject to appropriate sanctions, should that have taken place.

In my earlier answer to an earlier question I talked about some of the things that we decided to change after we came to office, as we know it was the previous government who set the facility up, it was the previous government who selected the contractors. One of the things we changed last December is we chose not to renew the contract of the security provider at the completion of their term.