Immigration accused of ignoring safety
Immigration Department staff may face prosecution over the death of a detained asylum seeker, lawyers say.
The death of 24-year-old Iranian man Hamid Khazaei resulted from failures by departmental bureaucrats, according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
The ALA this week released a report - Untold Damage: Workplace health and safety in immigration detention under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) - that reveals sexual abuse, suicides and other serious injuries in immigration detention have been systematically under-reported and possibly concealed.
ALA spokesperson Greg Barns says the federal insurer Comcare is ignoring its obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (WHS Act).
“The WHS Act requires organisations in charge of workplaces to ensure that no one’s health and safety is put at risk. It specifically protects both physical and psychological health. But the kinds of incidents that are reportable under the Act are focused on physical injuries: eight physical injuries are listed as reportable but no psychological ones,” he said.
“The biggest risks to detainees’ health in immigration detention, including sexual abuse, mental illness and inadequate hygiene, are not adequately catered for in the Act,” said Mr Barns.
This failure to ensure workplace safety is exacerbating serious physical and psychological harm.
“We have seen terrifying demonstrations of the degree of psychological ill-health in immigration detention centres. Two people have set themselves on fire this year alone, one of whom died and the other hospitalised now for over a month. Many others have self-harmed or attempted suicide.
“These are clear indicators that psychological health is severely compromised among detainees.
“There have been a number of ‘spikes’ in self-harm and suicide attempts both on Nauru and Manus Island. Even where the individual incidents are reported to Comcare, they are sometimes assessed as not-notifiable. Further, there is no mechanism in the legislation to respond to the broader situation that exists at the time of the spike. Often these spikes in self-harm directly follow government announcements,” Mr Barns said.
Poor hygiene is also seriously affecting detainees’ health.
“On Manus Island, Hamid Khazaei died because of an infection that advocacy groups have linked to poor hygiene. On Nauru, a man has suffered permanent hearing loss because he is allergic to bird droppings, which cover the ground. Vermin is everywhere, including mice, scorpions, spiders and mosquitos. In immigration detention, these pose obvious risks to health and safety, but the WHS Act does not recognise them as such,” said Mr Barns.