Secret asylum boat report withheld from police
“A top-secret report into the Australian
authorities’ response to the distress of the ill-fated asylum seeker boat
known as the SIEV 358 was deliberately withheld from an investigation into
the sinking, a court has heard.
As a result, the investigating officer says he
can no longer stand by his report.
The WA Coroner’s Court has been told that an
Australian Federal Police agent told Customs and Border Protection and the
Department of Defence not to give the classified document to a police officer
who had been asked to investigate the sinking as a major crime on June 21
last year.
A total of 104 men died in the incident.
The officer, Detective Inspector David Bryson,
told the court he had no idea that information had been hidden from him until
he arrived at court on Friday morning.
He told the court, which is investigating the
deaths of those on the boat, he had top-secret clearance and could have been
shown any classified or secret information – but he was never told it
existed.
Detective Inspector Bryson said he could no
longer stand by the conclusions in his own report into the deaths, knowing he
had not been given all the facts. It would no longer be a full and honest
report, he said.
‘‘My brief was to treat this job as a serious
crime,’’ he said.
Detective Inspector Bryson said he asked the
AFP liaison officer who was to be the single point of contact for all
Commonwealth agencies to provide all documents, videos and reports relating
to the investigation.
‘‘It was a cover-all request for all
documents, either secret or top secret,’’ he told the court.
But counsel for Customs and Border Protection
and Defence, Mr Peter Hanks QC, then revealed that an AFP officer had given
direct instructions that Customs and Defence should not hand over the
internal review of the sinking. The investigation had been ordered by Home
Affairs Minister Jason Clare.
‘‘The AFP specially asked that the document
not be provided,’’ said Mr Hanks.
The WA Coroner, Alastair Hope, expressed
surprise at the revelations. He has asked for the name of the officer who
made the request, the date, the reasons and on whose direction it was made.
Detective Inspector Bryson told the court that
he knew ‘‘absolutely nothing’’ about the AFP withholding information.
The inquest has been hearing evidence about
the adequacy of the response of the Australian authorities to the passengers
on the boat.
It has been revealed they made 16 desperate
phone calls to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) pleading for
help, saying their boat was taking on water and they had no lifejackets. The
phone calls began on June 19 and continued until the boat sank two days
later.
The report that was withheld from WA Police
has already criticised AMSA for not being proactive enough in helping the
boat and for transferring the responsibility for the search and rescue to its
Indonesian counterparts, despite being told that they did not have the
capability to conduct the search.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection
Service (ACBPS) later issued a statement saying there had been no attempt to
keep the existence of the internal review secret, or to keep it from the
investigation or inquest.
The ACBPS said it had issued a release to the
media in July last year announcing the review, which could be found on its
website.
It said counsel assisting the coroner
requested access to the review report prior to the hearing of the inquest and
it was provided last month.
The ACBPS says it has provided full
co-operation and every document requested of it.”
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/secret-asylum-boat-report-withheld-from-police-20130726-2qp6c.html#ixzz2aD3nKnmI
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