Department chastised for failing to get value for money its handling of contracts and for conditions in the camps

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Australia’s immigration department spent $2.2bn on its offshore detention regime without proper authorisation, a scathing report from the government’s own independent auditor has found.

The report, published on Tuesday by the Australian National Audit Office, condemned the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for its handling of contracts to run offshore detention, saying the detention regimes on Nauru and Manus held people in unhealthy and dangerous conditions, were wasteful of public money, and damaging to Australia’s reputation.

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The auditor found the department failed to get “value for money” in running offshore detention: contracts were signed “in great haste to give effect to government policy decisions and the department did not have a detailed view of what it wanted to purchase”.

In some cases, private contractors tendering for contracts were invited to suggest elements they would like written into contracts, and contracts were signed before agreement on a price.



In addition the auditor raised safety concerns, finding massive gaps in the video recordings taken within the island detention camps.

The Nauru and Manus camps have been riven by allegations of systemic physical and sexual abuse of asylum seekers by guards, violent incidents, acts of self-harm and suicide attempts. On Manus, one asylum seeker was murdered inside the detention centre in 2014, while in 2015 a staff member was allegedly drugged and gang-raped.

All incidents in detention, where they are recorded by CCTV, are required to be kept by the department. The department told the auditor it had eight terabytes of stored video, but only provided a quarter of that amount.

The auditor found:

video and incident records did not always reconcile. There were records of incidents which noted that video existed of an incident, but no corresponding video; and

during incidents there were gaps in the recording of incidents.

The auditor also had access to reports from the department’s chief medical officer, who reviewed conditions on both Manus Island and Nauru.

“The chief medical officer’s reviews have drawn attention to work, health and safety issues relating to the garrison support and welfare services contracts, including: increased risk of infections and disease due to vermin and pests; water pooling; extensive mould and inadequate cleaning of wet areas; inadequate food hygiene; and overcrowded accommodation. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has often been slow to respond to issues raised by the chief medical officer or service providers.”

The auditor highlighted a case where it took 11 months – from January 2016 to December 2016, before the department took any action about mould growing in tents in the Nauru detention centre. Mould remains a problem in the camp, the department says.



Overall, the auditor reported that the department’s handling of its offshore processing detention network, “has fallen well short of effective contract management practice”.

It found that $2.2bn was spent by the department on offshore processing without appropriate, or in some cases any, approval. “$1.1bn was approved by DIBP officers who did not have the required authorisation; and for the remaining $1.1bn there was no departmental record of who authorised the payments.”

“In addition, this audit highlighted further weaknesses in the department’s management of procurement. Substantial contract variations totalling over $1bn were made without a documented assessment of value for money.”

The auditor said the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had previously been warned about its profligacy in contracting. In September, the audit office condemned the department for allowing detention contracts to blow out by more than $1bn without seeking any alternative quotes.

“This audit [in January] has identified a recurrence of these, and other, deficiencies, which have resulted in higher than necessary expense for taxpayers and significant reputational risks for the Australian government and the department.”



In response to the auditor’s report, department deputy secretary Jenet Connell wrote that it was important for the auditor “to recognise the complex environment in which these contracts were established and continue to operate”.



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“The pressure placed on the department to simultaneously manage thousands of asylum seekers, negotiate with host governments, engage service providers and operate all the logistics for the regional processing centres, while continuing to manage the immigration detention network in Australia, was immense.”

Connell said that the department disputed that more than $2bn was spent without authorisation. “The vast majority of these payments were fixed monthly contractual fees which are dependent on the number of residents in the RPCs. The department acknowledges that there is a lack of documentary evidence supporting our decisions on approving these payments.”

Connell said the department had begun work to remove mould from tents on Nauru.