A new Commonwealth law, the Australian Border Force Act, has come into force which could see Government employees and contractors – such as social workers, doctors, nurses, teachers and humanitarian staff – prosecuted for criticising conditions inside Australia’s detention centres.
The Act regulates the passage of people and goods over Australia’s borders, and includes new guidelines for staff that make it an offence for ‘entrusted’ persons to make record of, or disclose, protected information – being any information that a person comes across while working for, or in, detention centres. Under the changes, a professional who works in an immigration facility can speak out only if they have been given departmental approval.
More than 40 current and former workers at Australia’s detention centres have issued an open letter challenging the authorities to prosecute them for publically discussing conditions. The letter, circulated by medical officer Dr John-Paul Sanggaran, read “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”.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has responded that their claims are inaccurate, and that contractors would still be able to raise concerns about conditions under whistleblowing legislation. The Commonwealth Public Interest Disclosure Act allows disclosure to be made only if a person believes that there is "substantial and imminent danger to health, safety or the environment", and is only protected where first disclosed internally.
Mr Dutton argues that the new border force act will protect "sensitive operational information from unauthorised disclosure", but that it will not restrict anyone's ability to raise genuine concerns about conditions in detention should they wish to do so through "appropriate channels".
Rallies against the purported ‘secrecy laws’ continue to be held in Australia in belief that the legislation is wholly designed to intimidate workers into not speaking out.
Click here to read the Australian Border Force Act 2015.
Click here to read the open letter to Government.