A Darwin paediatrician says he would “absolutely” consider flouting laws which could see people jailed if they speak out about what they see in asylum seeker detention centres.
His comments came after dozens of young Northern Territory doctors protested against the Border Force Act, which came into effect on Wednesday.
The new legislation could see workers at onshore and offshore detention facilities risk up to two years in jail if they speak out about what they see.
It was passed with the support of the federal Coalition and Labor.
Dr Paul Bauert, an Australian Medical Association spokesperson for children held in detention and a member of the Australian Paediatrics Society, said he would still speak out.
He said he was opposed to the “secrecy and size of the punishment for speaking out and trying to protect our patients”.
“In the Northern Territory, if you feel that a child is being abused or subjected to emotional abuse through being in a detention centre, you are obliged to report that to the Office of Children and Families,” he said.
“We have paediatricians who have reported many, many times … that these children are being abused, they are being damaged.”
He said treating asylum seekers put doctors and other professionals in an “uncomfortable ethical dilemma”.
“We diagnose these people to be damaged, to be suffering from ongoing damage through abuse in the detention centres, and we have to return them to the same place of abuse,” he said.
Keep secrets or ‘risk ruining career and ending up in jail’
Dr Bauert said the Border Force Act would result in worse treatment of asylum seekers.
“It puts extra onus on anybody who really feels they need to do the right thing by these people to keep quiet and keep a secret as the rest of the whole immigration business is about, or risk the prospect of ruining their careers and ending up in jail,” he said.
I certainly will not be keeping quiet about it. I have an ethical and a moral duty to do the best thing by my patients.
Dr Paul Bauert
“This is a Government that is prepared to put people in jail for attempting to assist them by doing their professional work.”
Dr Bauert said he would “absolutely” flout the law and continue to speak out.
“I’m ethically obliged to do that, particularly in the area of paediatrics, where I am seeing children who are being damaged and continue to be damaged because of the abuse going on … in these detention centres,” he said.
“I certainly will not be keeping quiet about it. I have an ethical and a moral duty to do the best thing by my patients.”
Junior doctor Stefanie Pender, who participated in the protest organised by junior doctors working in the Northern Territory on Wednesday morning, said she was opposed to the legislation.
“I think it’s very concerning when a government threatens jail time for the release of information that should be for the scrutiny of the Australian public and is necessary to protect asylum seekers,” she said.
Another protestor, Dr Phillipa Sleigh, said doctors had a responsibility to care and advocate for patients.
“Gagging doctors from speaking about the asylum seekers we treat diminishes our ability to care for a particularly vulnerable group,” she said.
New Border Force commissioner defends controversial legislation
Newly appointed Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said the laws were aimed at protecting classified information and would not override existing whistleblower protection laws.
“This is about the leaking of classified information that can compromise operational security or our sovereignty,” he said, indicating that anyone who shared such information illegally would be prosecuted.
“It’s not about people having a right to be outspoken in the community.”
Mr Quaedvlieg also added that he considered it highly unlikely those who had spoken out to date would be prosecuted and said he not believe conditions in detention camps would be considered classified information.