Australian Inquiry Hears Sexual Assault Allegations At Migrant Camp

During the first hearing in Canberra, of the senate inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse at the Nauru migrant camp, the senior managers on Tuesday, were mum on the main questions during their interrogation. Their lack of knowledge was termed extraordinary by the senators who were highly disappointed due to this.

The inquiry heard allegations of sexual assault and miserable living conditions at the offshore migrant detention centre. In the aftermath of the government commissioned independent Moss Review, it was unveiled that Nauru detainees were being sexually tortured.

One of the submissions from a doctor also reports an allegation of rape against a woman. "She told me that since the rape, one guard had offered her extra shower time in return for sexual favours," Dr. David Isaacs wrote in his submission.

On the allegations that guards were demanding sexual favours in return for water when asked by the committee chair, Labor's Alex Gallacher, if male guards were in the shower areas when women and children were using them, Osborn replied in the negative saying that that was not the usual practice.

He added that the guards were provided by Wilson Security, not by Transfield. Transfield director Angela-Margaret Williams could not tell when asked about the breakdown of male and female guards at the centre.

"No - not as far as I'm aware," Transfield's executive general manager of logistics and facilities management, Derek Osborn, said. He added that that Wilson Security was Transfield's subcontractor.

Another submission from the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre said one boy began self-harming and talking about suicide. His mother believed he had been sexually assaulted, the submission said.

Executives were coaxed for information that was connected to a boy's sexual assault two years ago in 2013. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young insisted on knowing what was the follow up made after the allegation was made known by the staff. She took it for granted that they must have had the required knowledge.

"Very happy to take that question on notice ... and provide you the detailed timeline and reporting chain of that particular incident or allegation," Osborn, said.

The Senate committee is going to make disclosures in its findings by the middle of next month.

To stop the influx of asylum seekers primarily from Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq and also Afghanistan, Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government has taken stringent steps. All who arrive are detained. They are processed in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. and if found to be refugees will be resettled in PNG, Nauru or Cambodia.

The writer can be contacted at ritambanati@yahoo.com