Whistleblowers in Australia’s immigration detention regime say their complaints have been mocked or ignored, they have been abused online and in person, and their careers have been damaged as a result of speaking out.

A new report from Young Liberty for Law Reform carries testimony from former detention centre workers who say their careers and personal lives were harmed because they spoke out – they say in the public interest – about abuses they witnessed in offshore detention.



Steve Kilburn, a former security officer on Manus Island, said:

We put in report after report and never heard anything back. There was no incentive to do the right thing. Those who raised legitimate concerns were often labelled as ‘troublemakers’. And those who refused to follow orders were sacked.

Chris Iacono, a former Salvation Army employee on Manus Island and Nauru, said:

When we reported issues we were seeing... we were told we were bleeding hearts and to toughen up.



Nicole Judge, a former Salvation Army employee on Manus Island and Nauru, said:



One time this guy was slamming his head on the concrete and we were told to just sit there and not pay attention. And if you seemed too upset you’d lose your job. People were getting fired constantly for not following orders.



Karen Wells, a security guard at the Manus Island, Curtin and Woomera detention centres said:

When I first saw things that were wrong, I wrote a report. [Management] would read it in front of you and tell you, ‘You need to harden up’. They’d say, ‘You’re getting soft in your old age’.

Martin Appleby, a security office and trainer on Manus Island, said:

I got abused, accused on Facebook, social media. In terms of employment, the impact whistleblowing had on my life was not being able to gain employment again in that industry, for about eight months.

The YLLR report, to be released in Melbourne on Wednesday night, argues legislative reforms and changes in government practice have created “a climate of fear and a culture of intimidation within the agencies, organisations and companies responsible for enacting Australia’s policies”.



The chief legislative instrument is the Australian Border Force Act, enacted last year, which which carries a two-year prison term for disclosure of “protected information” by an “entrusted person”, which includes all department staff, anybody hired by the department, or hired by a department contractor or subcontractor, to perform any role within the detention system.

While nobody has yet been prosecuted under the act, the YLLR report contends it has had a chilling effect on potential whistleblowers who are unsure of their legal protections under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

“The ABF Act limits a person’s ability to disclose information by threat of termination of employment, or through other measures such as reduction in salary, reassignment of duties,” it says. “The fear of prosecution and reprisal prevents whistleblowers from speaking out.”

The government has consistently maintained the Border Force Act will not result in doctors, social workers, security guards or department staff being jailed for speaking publicly about concerns.

On the day the law was enacted last July, the Australian Border Force commissioner, Roman Quaedvlieg, said the provisions around jail sentences “have been over-interpreted somewhat”.

“This is about the leaking of classified information that could compromise operational security or our sovereignty.”

He said the provisions were not designed to stop “people having the right to be outspoken in the community about a range of things”.

Jordina Rust, one of the report’s co-authors, told The Guardian that even people seeking to raise concerns internally faced barriers.

“It became apparent to us that people are being actively discouraged from speaking up, not only externally but also within organisations. You don’t necessarily have to speak to the media to be penalised in the current culture of secrecy.”

Rust said the Border Force Act, regardless of an absence of prosecutions, had a powerful, chilling effect on people’s perception about their freedom to speak up on behalf of asylum seekers.



“From the people we have spoken with, there is a very strong sense that the Border Force Act is not about imprisoning doctors but is about intimidating doctors and other people working in these environments, entrenching that culture of secrecy.”

The YLLR report recommends section 6 – the secrecy provisions – of the Australian Border Force Act be repealed, arguing the Crimes Act gave the government broad powers to prosecute people for unauthorised disclosures.