Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called one government member "a pig" and another "biased" and "a joke" in a fiery Senate estimates hearing scrutinising the conditions faced by children at Nauru.
Senator Hanson-Young was questioning Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs on Tuesday over the appropriateness of deporting children and their families detained in Australia to the remote Pacific island.
Professor Triggs said the United Nations Rapporteur on the convention against torture had suggested detaining mentally unwell children was a breach of international conventions.
Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan interrupted, asking if Professor Triggs personally believed the detention amounted to torture, before backing down and saying he would resume his inquiries later.
"You can wait to be a pig then," Senator Hanson-Young shot back, to which Senator O'Sullivan retorted "that's outrageous".
Professor Triggs said the United Nations had determined the detention regime was "cruel".
She said the evidence in relation to children at Nauru raised concerns "that it amounts to cruel treatment and punishment. I think that is a view that most in this field would support."
The committee's chair, Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, said the commission should attend estimates covering migration issues "so we can get some balance to these quite outrageous claims".
He pointed to Senator Hanson-Young's "bashing" over claims, reported by the ABC, that a five-year-old raped at Nauru was awaiting return - reports that the ABC on Monday said contained inaccuracies.
"I think a comment like that in relation to the abuse and assault of children, Senator Macdonald, is even beyond you, it is beneath you," Senator Sarah-Hanson Young said.
Senator Macdonald accused her of "peddling lies", to which she replied "I'm sorry Senator Macdonald, but you are the most biased chair in this Senate ... you are a joke".
Earlier in the hearing, Professor Triggs referred to an assessment of children in Darwin's Wickham Point detention centre, many of whom are due to fly back to Nauru.
The findings, that the vast majority of children were at risk of post traumatic stress disorder and had little hope for the future, were "very disturbing", she said, adding that the prospect of deportation to Nauru was their "primary concern".
