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After the lies Dutton has been spreading today in regards to the Biloela family, I started reflecting on the first time I truly understood how dark and dirty this man can get. Remembering the lies & the Good Friday Shooting on #Manus Island
When the PNG Navy opened fire on the #Manus refugees on Good Friday 2017, Peter Dutton brazenly lied and said that no one had been injured, only one weapon had been fired in the air and then insinuated that it had happened because a young boy had been lured into the camp.
For nearly a month the department maintained that “no one was injured” and that the Papua New Guinean military personnel had discharged only one weapon into the air during the incident.
Andrew Bolt even claimed to have obtained a confidential Border Force report and CCTV footage that backed up Peter Dutton's claims about what led to the Good Friday shooting in the Manus detention centre ie three asylum seekers had taken a five-year-old-boy into the camp
One month later the truth finally started to emerge. During Senate Estimates questioning, Michael Pezzullo finally admitted that nine people had been injured, including refugees and Australian staff, during the Good Friday shooting.
During the shooting five employees of service providers (including Australian citizens); one PNG defence force soldier; one PNG immigration officer; and two refugees within the detention centre itself had been injured.
It emerged the drunk naval soldiers had actually fired over 100 shots into the detention centre using an M16 and shot guns, had tried to ram a car through the fencing and assaulted a PNG Immigration official
Dutton's version of the Good Friday shooting had by then been condemned by the PNG defence force, the PNG police, PNG parliamentarians, the refugees and staff from the #Manus detention centre.
A young boy had been inside the centre seeking food and money, however, that had been one week earlier. He walked in and was given some fruit. The refugees demanded the CCTV footage to be released to corroborate their claim - the CCTV footage has still never been released.
Manus Police Commander David Yapu backed the refugees repeatedly, stating that the Good Friday shooting had nothing to do with any incident relating to the boy. Instead, it was "drunken soldiers" angry after refugees and asylum seekers refused to leave a football field.
This was the first time I had to grapple with the fact that my Government was outright lying to me and lying to the public. My partner was in that centre that night. I heard the panic. I heard the fear. He gave me messages to pass on to his family if he was shot and killed.
To have someone you love being shot at by the PNG Navy is one thing. For your own Government to lie about what occurred is quite another. I'm not alone in saying that night was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. I wasn't there - but the fear was palpable.
The next day I expected to hear, at the very least some concern for these men. I expected to hear some concern that the PNG Navy had been firing machine guns into an unarmed camp of refugees and asylum seekers that the Australian Government was responsible for.
Nope. Nothing. Just veiled and vile insinuations that these men had brought it all upon themselves. So, today when Dutton insinuated the Biloela children were "Anchor Babies" and when he lied about Nades going to Sri Lanka - he is just continuing a pattern.
A pattern of lies, mistruths, smears and punching down. He does it because he can. He does it because he has been doing it for years. He does it because he keeps getting away with it. For most, the men on #Manus are faceless and nameless. We know some by name, but not most.
This is how it has been perpetuated. By keeping them isolated. Nameless. Faceless. This is how they denied over 600 men on #Manus food, water, medicine and medical treatment for over 3 weeks during the closure of the Detention Centre and they were still voted back in.
So, when you look at the Biloela family - please also look at the bigger picture. The way they are being treated. The lies being told. The way they have been disappeared to Christmas Island 53 men were disappeared by the PNG and Australian Government 31 days ago into #Bomana.
