Pauline Hanson will use the Senate to denounce the “poor treatment” of Nauru detention centre security guards who were punished after appearing in a photo with her at a Reclaim Australia rally.

The eight guards were suspended after Wilson Security learned about the photo with Hanson, who spoke at the demonstration by the far right group against Islam’s cultural influence in Brisbane in April last year.

The guard who posted the photo on Facebook was sacked and the others were demoted from the emergency response team on Nauru. They were told they could not return to the island without a written apology for attending the rally and being in the photo with Hanson. Four guards were cleared to return to Nauru but two refused to do so and quit. Two others who refused to apologise also quit after being offered lower-paid jobs at Brisbane airport car park. The final guard saw out his contract but was “unable to return to work”, according to Wilson Security. None of the men remain with the company, which “strongly denies” any of them were treated unfairly.

One guard who appeared in the photo – under which another had posted the quip “Pauline Hanson’s Protection Team” – went on to provide security at Hanson’s One Nation federal election campaign launch in Brisbane, which drew protesters and police.

Hanson, who has been elected a Queensland senator on a platform including a ban on Muslim immigration pending a royal commission into Islam, bans on face veils in public and CCTV in mosques and Islamic schools, would raise the issue of the Nauru guards on the Senate floor “in due course”, a spokesman said.

“Each of those men has been treated poorly by their employer and Pauline intends to give each of them a voice on the floor of parliament,” he said.

One of the guards said their sense of unfair treatment was heightened by the fact Hanson was now an elected representative with significant public support. One Nation in Queensland outpolled the Greens in the Senate with more than 130,000 primary votes and drew significant lower-house votes.



“I think if I’d have had my picture taken with Tony Abbott it would have been a different story,” the guard said.

“But I don’t see why at the end of the day. The actual refugees on the island were always protesting against Tony Abbott because he was the reason they were there.

“They knew nothing about Pauline Hanson. She hadn’t been a politician since 1998. I only knew her as a celebrity on TV. Why would I think of her as anything else?”

Wilson Security said: “Each employee has been treated fairly and appropriately with due consideration for procedural fairness, the operations of the centre on Nauru and the sensitivity of the work they are required to perform.

“The process for determining the outcome of each individual’s situation considered the sensitivity of the offshore processing environment and involved representatives from [the union] United Voice.”

The emergency response team was trained in riot control but also dealt with incidents in the Nauru centre, from self-harm to disputes between asylum seekers.

Seven of the former guards are military veterans: one served in Iraq with the British defence force and the others in Afghanistan with the Australian defence force.

Many asylum seekers on Nauru are Muslims from the Middle East and parts of Asia.

The man who was sacked had also made Facebook posts including a call to boycott halal products.

His former colleague said the rest who were punished included those who had not posted or shared the Hanson photo, and who made online posts critical of “Islamic extremists” rather than Islam per se.



None of the men had identified as Wilson Security employees in their online profiles, the guard said.



The guard said he was asked in interviews with lawyers for Wilson Security if they thought Muslims would be offended by the picture with Hanson or the protest banner in the background against sharia law and halal.



“I don’t understand why they would be when it’s just a bunch of guys with a celebrity,” he said.

“[The banner] is not saying [I’m] against Islam or Muslims, that’s just saying [I’m] against sharia law or a halal certification tax being put in as part of a our legal system.”

The guard said they had been told employees for immigration contractors were forbidden from attending rallies related to immigration issues “but those [Reclaim Australia] rallies had nothing to do whatever with the immigration centres or the boat people”.

Employees were repeatedly told before attending asylum seeker protests on Nauru: “Remember, they have the right to protest.”

“So if we’re being told they have the right to protest in Nauru, are they saying we don’t have the right to protest in Australia as individuals?” he said.

Some of the men had sought legal advice on possible claims for unfair dismissal but were told they would be costly and drawn out, the guard said.

“The boys were mistreated without a doubt,” he said. “I think Wilsons wanted to save their own neck instead of actually standing up for their employees and showing that duty of care that they should have done.”