Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday said he was worried about the “volatile situation” at a Papua New Guinea asylum-seeker camp after reports that detainees were swallowing razor blades and washing powder.
Australia sends asylum seekers who try to enter the country by boat to offshore detention centers on Papua New Guinea and Nauru with no prospect of being settled on the mainland.
More than 400 boat people on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea have gone on hunger strike protesting their detention, living conditions and the possibility of being permanently resettled in the Pacific nation, refugee advocates and reports said.
“I think this is a very serious situation,” Dutton told reporters. “I’m worried about developments over the course of the last 24 hours. I’m concerned about what I’ve learned in the last hour or so. And the situation is volatile there’s no question about that.”
He would not elaborate on what the developments were, but refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said up to 40 men had sewn their lips together, while three others had swallowed razor blades and four had consumed washing powder.
Rintoul claimed late yesterday after Dutton’s comments that security guards at the camp had attacked and beaten the protesters, although this could not be independently confirmed.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp said it had video from inside the detention center showing what appeared to be two men being taken away on stretchers after consuming washing powder. Other footage showed asylum-seekers chanting for freedom.
Dutton, who took on the immigration portfolio last month after a Cabinet reshuffle, called on the asylum seekers to resolve their concerns peacefully and said his appointment did not reflect a shift away from the government’s hardline policies.
“Whilst there has been a change of minister, the absolute resolve of me as the new minister and of the government is to make sure that for those transferees, they will never arrive in Australia,” he said. “I ask people to listen to the directions that they are being given by the staff and by the officers on the ground, so that we can deal with issues peacefully.”
He would not comment on individual cases, but confirmed there were a “number of incidents of self-harm within Manus” and the asylum seekers involved were provided with medical help.
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