One man reported finding his pregnant wife covered in petrol with a lighter in her hand, Senate inquiry told

The self-immolation of a refugee on Nauru last year triggered as many as 50 similar suicide threats and attempts by people who had lost hope, including a pregnant woman, a former refugee worker has told a Senate inquiry.

The startling submission about the conditions on Nauru as recently as September provides a description that would otherwise be outlawed under the Border Force Act’s disclosure provisions.

Written by Sandra Bartlett, who worked as a case manager for Connect Settlement Services last year, it formed part of the evidence examined by the Senate inquiry into serious allegations of abuse, self-harm and neglect of asylum seekers at the Nauru and Manus regional processing centres.

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Bartlett’s submission described self-harm as “rife” among both the refugee and asylum seeker populations, although she limited her report to those she worked with – the cohort of refugees settled in Nauru.

Many incidents had stuck in her mind, she said, including a suicide attempt in July by a young child who sought to drown in the ocean. According to Bartlett, one man reported returning to his accommodation module to find his pregnant wife covered in petrol with a lighter in her hand.

Bartlett’s submission, which does not contain names, said after one refugee’s self-immolation, about 50 other people threatened or attempted to set themselves on fire.

A month after she arrived a 23-year-old Iranian refugee living in Nauru, Omid Masoumali, died after he set himself on fire in front of visiting UN officials. His wife, Pari, was brought to Australia and is still being held in isolated detention.

Less than a week after Masoumali’s death a Somali woman, Hodan Yasin, also set herself alight.

Some of those who attempted to self-immolate in the following months were stopped by family or authorities, and one man was arrested, Bartlett said. One woman was saved by a security officer who ran into a burning building which she had set alight while inside.

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Another woman who said she had been sexually assaulted by a staff member told CSS she had covered herself in petrol and lay in bed considering setting it alight, before changing her mind.

Reports of assaults on refugees – and sometimes on staff – by Nauruan men occurred on “almost a daily basis”, Bartlett said, and she believed they contributed to the self-harm and suicide attempts.

Police investigations were inadequate and in at least one instance inappropriate and re-traumatising for the victim, she said.



Bartlett said a lack of opportunity and autonomy, and a sense of hopelessness contributed to the high levels of self-harm, as well as medical concerns, with refugees facing difficulties obtaining their medical records or even getting ambulances to turn up when called.

“It is not uncommon for refugees on Nauru to state ‘I am not an animal’ or ‘we are not animals’,” she said.

“I believe that years of having no control over their lives or their choices, being spoken down to and feeling like they are seen as lesser people has had a profound impact on the mental health of many of the refugees on Nauru.”

Bartlett also described a “culture of secrecy, mistrust and uncertainty” at CSS, which she put down to the effect of the Border Force Act’s disclosure provisions. Staff had a fear of being investigated and this led to a lack of accountability, she said.



Incident reports written by CSS staff for at least few months from March 2016 required reviews and edits before going to the Australian Border Force, she said, and it was “not unusual” to see a report changed so it no longer painted stakeholders negatively.

Bartlett told Guardian Australia she had wanted her submission to be made available to the public as she would not be allowed to discuss its contents under the Border Force Act.

Under its provisions, workers from Australia’s offshore detention centres can be jailed for up to two years for speaking publicly about conditions within the centres or the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Submissions to Senate inquiries attract parliamentary privilege.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection told the inquiry it had identified some of the cases Bartlett described and was satisfied the appropriate response and support had been provided, including referrals to police. A number of cases it was unable to identify and could not comment on.

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The department also detailed at length the support it provides the Nauruan government and police force, and improvements made to facilities. It did not address Bartlett’s concerns about the act.

In its responding submission the processing centres’ health contractor, International Health and Medical Services dismissed Bartlett’s submission as unrepresentative, saying her rotations fell during a “period of extreme unrest” and were not representative of “a longitudinal picture of issues across the entire population”.

IHMS said there had been a period of difficulty in providing medical records while negotiations were under way with the Royal Nauru hospital but that had been cleared up.

The Senate inquiry’s majority report called for the government to end the “fiction” that it did not control the two immigration centres and had no duty of care to their occupants, and said the immigration department had clearly failed to deliver policy in a transparent and safe manner.

• Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia1300 78 99 78