Detainees to testify

FORTY Manus Island detainees may be brought to Melbourne to testify in a class action trial. The Victorian Supreme Court may otherwise consider sitting on the Papua New Guinea island to hear from those witnesses during the six-month trial that begins next month. Eight people now held in detention centres in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Western Australia will testify in person in Melbourne. The class action has 1905 group members, which the plaintiff’s lawyers Slater and Gordon says covers the majority of people detained on Manus Island since 2012. The class action alleges they suffered physical and psychological injuries as a result of the conditions in which they were held on Manus Island.