Social workers, doctors, nurses, teachers and humanitarian staff who have worked inside Australia’s detention centres have united in an unprecedented show of defiance against new laws that could see workers in detention centres jailed for speaking out about abuses.
More than 40 staff who have worked at detention centres on Manus Island, Nauru and across the Australian mainland have spoken out on the same day that a new offence comes into force that criminalises the disclosure of information
The signatories have challenged the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, to prosecute them for speaking out about human rights abuses of asylum seekers in Australia’s care.
The new offence gives the immigration department secretary a broader discretion to determine what kind of “protected information” would be subject to the offence, and also greater powers in determining to whom it could be applied.
It could also potentially criminalise the recording of protected information. There are limited exceptions that could apply to medical staff, with the express consent of the newly formed Australian Border Force.
It could also potentially criminalise the recording of protected information. There are limited exceptions that could apply to medical staff, with the express consent of the newly formed Australian Border Force.
The open letter, obtained and published in full by Guardian Australia, is a direct challenge to the new disclosure offence, and an indictment of the policy of secrecy that the federal government has maintained over asylum-seeker matters.
The letter was circulated by Dr John-Paul Sanggaran and has gathered high-profile support from former staff in detention centres, including Dr Peter Young, Dr Hasantha Gunasekera, Professor Caroline de Costa, Alanna Maycock, Dr David Isaacs, Dr Grant Ferguson and Dr Alison Bleaney. The signatories have also outlined their reasons for signing the open letter separately.
The letter reads: “Today the Border Force Act comes into force. It includes provision for a two-year jail sentence for ‘entrusted persons’ such as ourselves if we continue to speak out about the deplorable state of human rights in immigration detention without the express permission of the minister for immigration and border protection. This strengthens the wall of secrecy which prevents proper public scrutiny.
“We have advocated, and will continue to advocate, for the health of those for whom we have a duty of care, despite the threats of imprisonment, because standing by and watching sub-standard and harmful care, child abuse and gross violations of human rights is not ethically justifiable.”
The letter said the signatories have seen “devastating effects of institutional self-protection and blindness to child abuse” that have manifested throughout the royal commission into institutional child sex abuse, and are determined “not to collude with a system that repeats these same mistakes”.
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