THE psychiatrist formerly responsible for the care of asylum seekers in Australia’s detention system says it’s “completely crazy” that mental health data from the centres isn’t made public.
DR Peter Young was previously the director of mental health services for International Health and Mental Services, the private contractor employed by the Department of Immigration.
He resigned in July 2014, calling the detention system “inherently toxic” and likening detainees’ experiences to torture.
Following an address to a psychiatrists’ conference on Tuesday, Dr Young said discussion among mental health professionals and the general public was being stifled by a lack of governmental transparency.
He said reporting of mental health data in detention centres had essentially stopped and while clinicians were still collecting the information, it wasn’t publicly disseminated.
“Nothing is done with it – it stops people knowing what’s going on,” he told AAP.
“I guess my view is that these things are not coincidental.
“There is a very strong emphasis from the government and the department to try and keep this type of information from professionals and from the public.
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Describing his own endeavours to obtain iinformation from his former employer, Dr Young said it was like “trying to get blood from a stone”.
“That doesn’t speak to me of an organisation that wants to be open and transparent in any way,” he said.
Dr Young said if the data was made public it would enable mental health workers to accurately analyse the psychological damage of internment and how it compared to other Australian environments.
“If we were talking about the effects of cigarette smoking in the workplace or asbestos, there would be no question,” he said.
“It to me seems completely crazy there’s such restriction on this.
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Dr Young addressed the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ annual congress.