$A70 million to be paid out to Manus detainees
CANBERRA/MELBOURNE: Papua New Guinea police appear have used long metal batons to beat refugees and asylum seekers in the Manus Island detention centre, as authorities used force to clear the camp yesterday.
Video footage has been released showing PNG police hitting and threatening refugees.
It is understood police and immigration officials arrived around 7am (PNG time) as part of an ongoing operation to move the remaining men at the nowclosed facility.
The footage surfaced as it was announced about 1700 former Manus Island detainees, including many of those involved in a standoff in the closed centre, would soon be paid their share of $A70 million ($NZ77.6 million) in compensation.
The individuals stand to receive anything from a few thousand dollars to close to $A100,000 under Australia’s largest human rights class action settlement.
A Victorian Supreme Court judge yesterday granted approval for payments to be made.
The court heard the money could not be distributed until any reviews of individual compensation amounts had been completed, making midDecember the earliest date the funds could begin to be paid out.
Those who spent the longest period in detention would receive higher individual payments.
In total 1691 detainees among 1878 group members in the class action, who represent the majority of people detained in the offshore immigration detention centre since 2012, registered to share in the settlement.
Most of the compensation was for false imprisonment after the PNG Supreme Court ruled their detention on Manus was illegal, meaning the length of time each detainee spent in the centre will influence the amount they receive.
The Australian Government and detention centre operators settled the class action in June without any admission of liability.
All remaining refugees and asylum seekers had been moved out by early last night, ending a tense threeweek standoff.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday confirmed the 300odd men who had refused to leave the centre were in alternative accommodation.
The asylum seekers said the new facilities were unsafe and lacked proper health services.
The UN High Commission for Refugees said it had received reports of force being used to remove the refugees and asylum seekers, and called for constructive dialogue. — AAP