A security officer at the Manus Island detention centre suffered severe psychiatric injuries after the Australian government and his employer, G4S, failed to provide him and other staff with adequate safety equipment, training and support in the lead-up to riots that left one person dead and 77 people injured, a court has heard.
A trial brought by the law firm Arnold Thomas & Becker on behalf of Grant Potter and 17 other G4S security officers who were injured in the Manus Island unrest in February 2014, began in Victoria’s supreme court on Monday.
Representing the plaintiff, Timothy Tobin SC told Justice Cameron Macaulay that the Australian government and the security provider it contracted to manage the Manus Island facility had foreseen the riots in their own risk assessments and had placed staff at significant risk of harm.
“Perhaps the biggest failure leading to the riots,” Tobin alleged, was that 1,340 adult men were detained at the facility originally intended for 400 families and vulnerable people. He added that in the lead-up to the 2014 riots, G4S and the Australian government knew the men were increasingly agitated due to government announcements that those at the centre would not be allowed to settle in Australia.
Tobin alleged in his opening address that it was also known the detainees were stockpiling makeshift weapons, including steel bed frames, rocks and plastic furniture; that the lighting at the facility was in need of repair; and that fencing was damaged and inadequate. It was also known, he said, that Papua New Guinean nationals were hostile towards the detainees and tensions were growing.
There were not enough radios or personal protective equipment equipment for all of the security staff, many of whom had been inadequately trained for their roles, Tobin claimed.
Potter began work as a safety and security officer at the facility in July 2o13 but by November that year was promoted to shift supervisor and then, allegedly without training, to team leader of the incident response team in January 2014. When the three days of rioting broke out on 16 February, involving significant numbers of Papua New Guinean nationals who armed themselves with weapons and breached the perimeter fence, Potter was on duty as a shift supervisor with supervision over safety and security officers and the incident response team.
It was claimed Potter feared for his own life as well as for the safety of the detainees, many of whom were not involved in the riots but under attack by Papua New Guineans who had infiltrated the centre, the court heard. A 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, Reza Barati, was killed after suffering severe head trauma in the violent clashes. The court heard that Potter was the one who drove him to hospital but Barati had died en route.
“Some detainees thought he was responsible for Mr Barati’s death,” Tobin claimed. “He was fearful with good reason of reprisal action against him. Mr Potter was a victim himself and eyewitness to other violence throughout the riots. Mr Potter feared for his life. He feared for the lives of detainees.”
Guardian Australia first revealed the lawsuit in 2018 which alleged that Potter had been left with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and suffered loss of income.
In its defence filed to the court, the Australian government admitted it contracted G4S to provide security, operational and maintenance services; that it transferred asylum seekers to PNG; and that rioting occurred that resulted in one death and injury to detainees and staff. But it denies it was responsible in any way for security services on Manus Island, saying that was the responsibility of G4S, and that the company held itself as “security experts”.
The government denied being responsible for the care and management of the facility, or its maintenance. It also said it was not responsible for the transfer of detainees to and from the facility.
In its defence filed to the court, G4S admitted it owed Potter a duty of care as his employer. But it also says that at the relevant time, the centre was under the control of an administrator appointed by the PNG minister for foreign affairs and immigration. G4S denied that it was liable to the commonwealth government for indemnity, contribution or damages. It denied Potter’s injuries were caused by G4S negligence.
The then immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told reporters on the second night of the riots that it was a “distressing situation but it is not a situation, sadly, that was not anticipated”, comments Tobin referred to in his opening address on Monday.
The defence is expected to give its opening address later on Monday or on Tuesday. The hearing continues.