This week the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse examined Australia’s immigration detention, including offshore detention. The commission heard that a government-commissioned child protection panel failed to interview any children before making recommendations about child safety in immigration detention. It also heard that immigration minister Peter Dutton was involved in delaying the public release of the Making Children Safer report, which reviewed 242 alleged incidents of abuse.
A case was brought to the High Court by Victoria Legal Aid on behalf of two female asylum seekers brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment. Victoria Legal Aid filed a constitutional challenge to the legality of detaining asylum seekers transferred from offshore detention facilities to the country for temporary purposes, such as medical treatment. A decision is not expected to be made immediately.
A 28-year-old Pakistani refugee on Manus Island was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Lorengau. The man is expected to appear in court this week. This alleged sexual assault is the second such incident reported in the town of Lorengau that involves the transferred populations of refugees and asylum seekers.