The Australian Medical Association has joined the national medical students’ lobby and the teachers’ union in expressing grave concerns over new laws that threaten detention centre staff with jail for speaking out about asylum seekers’ welfare.
Their intervention follows the release of an extraordinary open letter signed by more than 40 social workers, doctors, nurses and other humanitarian workers with experience in Australia’s detention centres, challenging the immigration department to prosecute them for highlighting abuses.
The new offence, which came into force on Wednesday, gives the Department of Immigration and Border Protection broader powers to determine what information is considered “protected”, with “entrusted persons” who disclose such details liable for up to two years’ jail.
Recording protected information could also lead to prosecution, subject to limited exceptions for medical staff who obtain the express consent of the newly formed Australian Border Force.
The AMA said the new laws “fuelled concerns about a lack of scrutiny and accountability in the operation of immigration detention centres”.
“The standard of health care, particularly in offshore centres such as Nauru and Manus Island, is well below that we would expect on the mainland,” its national president, Professor Brian Owler, said.
“Having some sort of independent health group as there used to be, indeed, to actually oversee that and provide some sort of transparency, that gives the Australian people the reassurance that we’re actually fulfilling at least the obligations of providing good health care to people that are in detention.”
The Australian Medical Students’ Association, which represents 17,000 medical students around the country, warned the secrecy provisions would punish doctors “for undertaking professional obligations and reporting breaches in health care and service provision, for instance reporting child sexual abuse to the public”.
“The border force bill is a direct attack on a clinician’s ability to perform his/her ethical duty,” its president, James Lawler, said.
“Its very nature contravenes the code of conduct doctors must abide by to practice within Australia, and the act may result in criminal prosecution for doctors who are only engaging in their professional ethical responsibilities.”
The federal president of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe, said it was “unconscionable” to threaten teachers with jail for voicing their concerns about conditions in detention that risked causing “long-term damage to young children”.
“Teachers working in detention centres must retain their ability as professionals to speak out on behalf of their students, and to draw attention to issues which can damage students’ long-term health and wellbeing,” she said.
“They must be able to tell the truth about what is happening to protect vulnerable children whose welfare must take priority over the government’s desire to maintain the secrecy of its detention regime.”
The law, which also provided for a border protection agency to be created, the Australian border force (ABF), passed parliament in May with Labor support.
The ABF, which merges the frontline functions of the immigration department and customs service, was officially launched on Wednesday. It will be led by Roman Quaedvlieg, the former chief executive of the customs and border protection service.
Quaedvlieg said on Wednesday he “sincerely doubts” the 40 signatories to the open letter would be prosecuted.
“This is about the leaking of classified information that can compromise operational security or our sovereignty. It’s not about people having a right to be outspoken in the community about a range of things,” he said.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said he was aware of the open letter, but that its claims were “not accurate”.
“[The act] will not restrict anyone’s ability to raise genuine concerns about conditions in detention should they wish to do so through appropriate channels,” he said.
“While the government will take action to protect operationally sensitive information, such as personal information or information which compromises the operational effectiveness or response of our officers, the airing of general claims about conditions in immigration facilities will not breach the ABF act.”
He said the ABF would “seek to investigate leaks of operationally sensitive information, however the public can be assured that it will not prevent people from speaking out about conditions in immigration detention facilities”.
But despite their comments, regulations relating to the disclosure offence tabled by Dutton indicate a broad potential application to the offence.
Two classes of information would expressly relate to asylum seekers held in immigration detention. The first relates to “documents and information about the identity, immigration history or status, or citizenship history or status of a person”. The second makes it an offence to disclose “documents and information about the provision of services to persons who are not Australian citizens”.
Labor MP Tim Watts also denied the bill would prevent ABF officers from making disclosures that fell within the Public Interest Disclosures Act.
“All staff and contractors would have the right to report child abuse if they had raised it with their employer and nothing was done about it,” he said.
However, the act allows only for whistleblowing to media or another entity outside government in extremely limited circumstances, such as in the case of “substantial and imminent danger”.
Explaining the need for the gag laws, Dutton has said: “Every day, the department and the Australian border force within it will create, receive and use critical and important information, including intelligence and personal information. Much of this information will be sensitive and complex.
“It is therefore necessary that information secrecy and disclosure arrangements should be in place not only to protect information but also to enable the disclosure of information in appropriately controlled circumstances.”
He said the formation of the ABF meant “we are equipped to deal with future challenges and threats to our national security and financial prosperity and our borders are stronger than ever before”.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, told a swearing-in ceremony of ABF staff they were more than just officials.
“You are guardians of our safety, our security and our prosperity,” he said. “May God bless you, may God bless your work, may God bless the country you are helping to protect and prosper.”
Labor’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, said the new agency would “play a crucial role in ensuring the integrity of Australia’s borders”.