A Papua New Guinea politician who criticised Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on the ABC on Monday was actually dismissed from PNG's Parliament last week following corruption findings, Fairfax Media can reveal.
The discovery is a boon for Mr Dutton, who is under siege for his controversial account of the Good Friday rampage on Manus Island, and who is now demanding an apology from the national broadcaster.
Ronny Knight, who represented Manus Island province in the PNG Parliament until last week, was introduced by ABC presenter Fran Kelly as a serving MP and referred to himself as such during the interview.
Mr Knight's comments were reported by numerous other media outlets on Monday, including Fairfax Media.
But reports from three separate PNG media outlets, and confirmed by PNG police, indicate Mr Knight was technically dismissed from office last Wednesday when a court rejected his long-running appeal.
The outspoken former MP was found guilty of misappropriating public funds in 2015 and a tribunal recommended his dismissal from office. Last week a PNG court reportedly upheld that decision.
In a complicated twist of timing, the decision was handed down just a day before writs for the PNG election were issued, effectively rendering all MPs out of office until polling day.
It is understood Mr Knight will recontest the seat and again appeal the finding.
The revelation is significant because of the contentious and politically-charged claims surrounding events leading up to the Good Friday altercation between PNG soldiers and asylum seekers at the Australian-run facility on Manus Island.
Mr Knight used Monday's interview to lambast Mr Dutton as "ridiculous" for claiming to possess information not known to the public, the media or authorities on the ground.
"His comment that he knows more than we do is ridiculous," he said.
"I'm on the ground, I'm the MP from here. If he knows more than I do then he must have a really good intelligence organisation and it must be Australian, not PNG."
Manus province police commander David Yapu, who has also publicly contradicted Mr Dutton's account of the Good Friday rampage, confirmed Mr Knight had been removed from office last week following the court decision.
The PNG Post-Courier quoted Mr Knight saying last week that he would "seek a permanent stay order on the findings".
An ABC spokesman acknowledged that "according to reports", the PNG National Court confirmed Mr Knight's dismissal last week, but noted: "Mr Knight is appealing this decision and is still listed on the PNG Parliamentary website as a Member of Parliament".
While the revelation does not invalidate Mr Knight's observations about the Manus Island incident, which took place while he was still in office, it will discredit his evidence in what has become a dramatic war-of-words between Mr Dutton and PNG officials.
The minister has been under siege for his claims, made in a television interview last week, that last week's altercation may have been prompted when asylum seekers "led" a five-year-old boy into the detention centre.
Reports of Mr Knight's interview prompted conservative commentator Andrew Bolt to weigh in on Monday, declaring of Mr Dutton's thesis: "It was an ugly suggestion, and it is now time he proved it or apologised".
Mr Dutton declined to comment for this story, but on Sky News on Monday night accused the ABC of having "lost the plot" for relying on the word of "people that have been convicted of fraud and have been excluded from Parliament".
"They're taking their word over the word of the Australian government," Mr Dutton said. "I frankly think the ABC has lost the plot and I think they should be out apologising."
Mr Knight did not respond to a request for comment.
