Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are six days from the second anniversary of the brutal murder of the young Iranian Kurdish man, Reza Barati, at Manus Island's regional processing centre on 17 February 2014. Fellow detainee Behnam Satah witnessed the murder of his roommate, Reza, and thereby became the principal witness in the murder trial. Mr Satah remains on Manus Island, and for the past year he has regularly received death threats for his role as a witness. I hereby present a petition calling for the immediate resettlement of Behnam Satah into the Australian community, which the Standing Committee on Petitions has certified as being in accordance with standing orders.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of Diana Cousens draws to the attention of the House:

Behnam Satah (FRT009) - a Kurdish Iranian - was the principal witness in the trial of those accused of murdering Reza Barati in February 2014 in the Manus Island detention centre. Since his testimony he has been subject to death threats from the Manus Island guards. Additionally every day guards spend several hours each morning watching him through the window of his room in an attempt to intimidate him. He has genuine fears for his safety and, in spite of promises from the PNG court, is not being protected. As a result of the constant intimidation, threats and other incidents, he has developed a serious heart condition for which he has received no appropriate treatment. He is provided with Panadol. We ask that Behnam Satah be brought immediately to Australia and settled in the community. We believe that justice can only exist where witnesses are protected and that Behnam cannot be protected in PNG. His name and photo were published in the PNG newspapers and he will never be safe in PNG.

We therefore ask the House to:

Bring Behnam Satah from Papua New Guinea to be settled in the community in Australia

from 1 citizen

Petition received.

The in-order petition has only the signature of the principal petitioner, Diana Cousens, so I also seek leave to table the more than 18,000 electronic signatures that were not in order.

Leave granted.

It is alleged that, since October 2015, a systematic campaign of intimidation against Mr Satah has been carried out by supporters of the guards against whom he testified. He has been threatened directly by the accused. They have told him that it is very easy to kill him and that they could arrange for it at any time. Mr Satah has said:

No one can ever imagine how it feels to think every time that someone might kill you. Every second I have to be alert at night. When someone passes [by my room at night] I have to be prepared.

This experience has resulted in Mr Satah developing a serious heart condition and being diagnosed with PTSD, for which he has not been receiving appropriate medical treatment. Mr Satah's name and photo were published in the PNG newspapers, and therefore he cannot be safe in PNG.

Concerned Australians, including the principal petitioner in this case, have written to the government on this issue and have received responses from Australian Border Force on behalf of the minister for immigration. ABF stated that Mr Satah's safety is a matter for Papua New Guinea and 'Issues relating to the safety and security of transferees are matters for the PNG government to determine.' In fact the PNG government does not run the Manus camp; it is run by contractors hired and paid by Australia.

Australia cannot contract out of its international legal responsibilities towards those who have requested asylum in Australia. This trick of displacing people seeking asylum outside of Australia's jurisdiction in order to evade responsibility for their welfare is an abdication of our legal duty to protect those fleeing persecution. It does nothing constructive to assist with the global challenge of displaced persons. Australia's incarceration of asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru has merely wasted many billions of dollars and created lifelong health problems for these most vulnerable people.

Furthermore, the use of offshore processing as a punishment to deter those who have not yet sought asylum in Australia is a misuse by parliament and the executive of the principle of deterrence, which would normally be a function of the courts in the determination of sentencing for a criminal matter. Asylum seekers have committed no crime. It is not illegal under international law to seek asylum. I stand with the more than 18,000 petitioners to urge the Australian government to resettle Behnam Satah in the Australian community as it is evident that his safety cannot be guaranteed in PNG. We cannot bring Reza Barati back to life but we can save the life of a witness to his murder. (Time expired)