$70m payout for detainees

Manus Island compensation win

AT least 1400 current and former Manus Island detainees will be share $70 million in compensation before the centre closes next month.

Some detainees believed the settlement was not enough, but a Victorian Supreme Court judge concluded it was a fair and reasonable sum.

Justice Cameron Macaulay yesterday approved the $70 million class action settlement with the Australian Government and operators of the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre.

“I am comfortably satisfied that a figure of $70 million to be distributed without deduction of costs amongst participating group members is a fair and reasonable sum,” he said.

The judge said the settlement was a marked discount on the highest award the group members could have received if all had gone their way in a lengthy and complex trial.

Legal firm Slater and Gordon hopes to get the compensation paid to the class action group members before the centre closes at the end of October.

Its practice group leader, Rory Walsh, said the settlement delivered a medium of justice for the detainees.

“These detainees came to Australia seeking refuge and protection. This was denied by successive Commonwealth governments,” he told reporters.

Mr Walsh said the settlement put an end to the “fic- tion” that the Australian Government does not have a duty of care to the detainees held in the offshore immigration detention centre in Papua New Guinea.

“We think that fiction is now at an end and the Commonwealth has a duty to these people and ought discharge that duty by treating them fairly.”

About 800 detainees remain in the centre, facing an uncertain future once it closes by October 31.

Some are expected to be resettled as part of Australia’s deal with the US.

So far 1383 of the 1923 group members in the class action have registered to get their share of the compensation.

Mr Walsh said many more were expected to sign up before the October 13 registration deadline.

The Government and centre operators settled the class action for $70 million, plus $20 million in costs, without any admission of liability.

“These detainees came to Australia seeking refuge and protection. This was denied by successive Commonwealth governments.” SLATER AND GORDON’S RORY WALSH