Wilson Security paid at least one Australian security guard to keep quiet about an alleged sexual assault of a local Manus Island worker, in a number of separate payments of up to $15,000 made by the company.

7.30 understands at least one guard, who was present on Manus Island on the evening of the alleged assault and quickly removed from the island the following day on July 16 2015, was paid just over $15,000 by the security company.

The money included the worker's remaining annual leave entitlements and was offered as a non-disclosure payment, meaning the worker could not discuss the incident, nor the work he was doing for the company in the offshore detention centre.

The removal of the workers involved in the alleged rape was considered controversial at the time as local Papua New Guinea police claimed they had not been able to investigate the matter after the local PNG worker had been found naked and disorientated in the men's bathroom on the island in the early hours of the morning.

There is a name for this: perversion of the course of justice. Those involved need to face charges for it. What's worse is that this is ultimately being paid for with public money. But I guess once you start paying people to run concentration camps and torture refugees, then little things like perverting the course of justice and undermining the rule of law seem inconsequential.