BMJ 2015;350:h3008 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h3008 (Published 1 June 2015)
Page 1 of 2
News
NEWS Australian doctors face two years in jail for reporting asylum seekers’ health Michael Woodhead Sydney
Doctors in Australia have vowed to fight a new law that threatens them with two years in jail if they speak out about abuse and poor conditions in detention centres for asylum seekers.
The new legislation has been enacted as part of the Australian government’s hardline “stop the boats” policy that transfers people arriving by boat in Australian waters to offshore detention centres on distant Pacific islands such as Nauru. Conditions in the immigration detention centres have been condemned as “appalling” by healthcare workers, who have reported unhygienic and overcrowded accommodation in tents, substandard medical care, sexual and physical abuse of children, and mental health problems among asylum seekers subject to indefinite detention. The government’s own report conceded that conditions were harsh on the tropical islands, which have limited infrastructure and where detainees are at risk of diseases such as malaria.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians last week called for an end to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers. President Nick Talley described the policies as “inhumane” and said that they were damaging people’s health.
However, healthcare staff employed by IHMS, the private medical service provider responsible for healthcare in the detention centres, are forbidden from speaking to the media or third parties and must sign confidentiality contracts. Despite this, last year a group of 15 doctors who had worked with asylum seeker detention centres went public with their concerns after working at one centre, citing “gross departures from generally accepted medical standards which have posed significant risk to patients and caused considerable harm.”1 Two official inquiries into Australia’s immigration detention regime have also criticised conditions in the camps, especially for children, and the United Nations’ special rapporteur on migrants has said that Australia was systematically violating the international convention against torture by leaving children in dangerous and violent conditions in the island camps.
The government has repeatedly rejected the criticisms, with the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, last month saying that detention centres provided a high standard of care, similar to that in facilities in Australia. However, he has refused all media requests to visit the centres. On 20 May the government enacted new legislation making it a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment of up to two years, for any person working directly or indirectly for the For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Department of Immigration and Border Protection to reveal anything that happens in Australian run detention centres.2 The new non-disclosure laws have caused alarm among medical and human rights groups, with the Australian Lawyers Alliance saying that they will have “far reaching and disturbing consequences” for any healthcare worker who contracted to work on behalf of the Department of Immigration.3 “The effect of these provisions will be to deter individuals such as doctors, counsellors, and others . . . from collecting information about those conditions and then raising their concerns,” they said.
At the Australian Medical Association’s annual conference last week, delegates voted unanimously to call on the Australian parliament to amend the law “to provide an exemption (from prosecution) for medical practitioners who disclose, in the public interest, failures in healthcare delivery in immigration detention centres.” The association’s president, Brian Owler, said that he strongly opposed the latest move, especially as it followed the government’s disbanding of the Immigration Health Advisory Group, an independent group of health professionals whose role was to oversee standards of care for asylum seekers in detention. “The legislation has already been passed, but we will be taking this matter further with the government,” he said. The association’s motion was sponsored by Doctors for Refugees, whose co-founder Barri Phatarfod, a GP in Bondi, Sydney, said that the non-disclosure legislation was “grossly unacceptable.”4 Phatarfod said, “This policy is a fail on every level. Not only does it clearly compromise the safety and health of those in detention, it puts Australian registered doctors in an ethical and legal conflict. “It also has potentially problematic implications for the Department [of Immigration]: by blocking any transparency of their quality assurance procedures, save for reporting to the police or coroner, the standard of care is unregulated until it becomes a crime or a death.”
When asked for a comment the Department of Immigration said that the legislation included provisions for disclosure of information in the public interest, to report misconduct or maladministration. However, Owler said that the Australian Medical Association’s legal advisers had warned that there was little or no protection in the law for doctors who raised concerns about treatment of asylum seekers. A doctor’s first duty was to
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BMJ 2015;350:h3008 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h3008 (Published 1 June 2015)
Page 2 of 2
NEWS
act in the interests of his or her patient and to speak on the patient’s behalf, he said. 1 2
Hartley J. Detention doctors fear for the regos. Australian Doctor 20 Dec 2013. www. australiandoctor.com.au/news/latest-news/detention-centre-doctors-fear-for-regos. Border Force Act. www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_ Results/Result?bId=r5408.
3 4
Barns G, Newhouse G. Border Force Act: detention secrecy just got worse. The Drum May 2015. www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-28/barns-newhouse-detention-centre-secrecyjust-got-even-worse/6501086. Woodhead M. Doctors face jail for reporting asylum seeker abuse. Australian Doctor 29 May 2015. www.australiandoctor.com.au/News/Latest-News/Doctors-face-jail-for-reportingasylum-seeker-abus.
Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h3008 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 2
News
NEWS Australian doctors face two years in jail for reporting asylum seekers’ health Michael Woodhead Sydney
Doctors in Australia have vowed to fight a new law that threatens them with two years in jail if they speak out about abuse and poor conditions in detention centres for asylum seekers.
The new legislation has been enacted as part of the Australian government’s hardline “stop the boats” policy that transfers people arriving by boat in Australian waters to offshore detention centres on distant Pacific islands such as Nauru. Conditions in the immigration detention centres have been condemned as “appalling” by healthcare workers, who have reported unhygienic and overcrowded accommodation in tents, substandard medical care, sexual and physical abuse of children, and mental health problems among asylum seekers subject to indefinite detention. The government’s own report conceded that conditions were harsh on the tropical islands, which have limited infrastructure and where detainees are at risk of diseases such as malaria.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians last week called for an end to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers. President Nick Talley described the policies as “inhumane” and said that they were damaging people’s health.
However, healthcare staff employed by IHMS, the private medical service provider responsible for healthcare in the detention centres, are forbidden from speaking to the media or third parties and must sign confidentiality contracts. Despite this, last year a group of 15 doctors who had worked with asylum seeker detention centres went public with their concerns after working at one centre, citing “gross departures from generally accepted medical standards which have posed significant risk to patients and caused considerable harm.”1 Two official inquiries into Australia’s immigration detention regime have also criticised conditions in the camps, especially for children, and the United Nations’ special rapporteur on migrants has said that Australia was systematically violating the international convention against torture by leaving children in dangerous and violent conditions in the island camps.
The government has repeatedly rejected the criticisms, with the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, last month saying that detention centres provided a high standard of care, similar to that in facilities in Australia. However, he has refused all media requests to visit the centres. On 20 May the government enacted new legislation making it a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment of up to two years, for any person working directly or indirectly for the For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Department of Immigration and Border Protection to reveal anything that happens in Australian run detention centres.2 The new non-disclosure laws have caused alarm among medical and human rights groups, with the Australian Lawyers Alliance saying that they will have “far reaching and disturbing consequences” for any healthcare worker who contracted to work on behalf of the Department of Immigration.3 “The effect of these provisions will be to deter individuals such as doctors, counsellors, and others . . . from collecting information about those conditions and then raising their concerns,” they said.
At the Australian Medical Association’s annual conference last week, delegates voted unanimously to call on the Australian parliament to amend the law “to provide an exemption (from prosecution) for medical practitioners who disclose, in the public interest, failures in healthcare delivery in immigration detention centres.” The association’s president, Brian Owler, said that he strongly opposed the latest move, especially as it followed the government’s disbanding of the Immigration Health Advisory Group, an independent group of health professionals whose role was to oversee standards of care for asylum seekers in detention. “The legislation has already been passed, but we will be taking this matter further with the government,” he said. The association’s motion was sponsored by Doctors for Refugees, whose co-founder Barri Phatarfod, a GP in Bondi, Sydney, said that the non-disclosure legislation was “grossly unacceptable.”4 Phatarfod said, “This policy is a fail on every level. Not only does it clearly compromise the safety and health of those in detention, it puts Australian registered doctors in an ethical and legal conflict. “It also has potentially problematic implications for the Department [of Immigration]: by blocking any transparency of their quality assurance procedures, save for reporting to the police or coroner, the standard of care is unregulated until it becomes a crime or a death.”
When asked for a comment the Department of Immigration said that the legislation included provisions for disclosure of information in the public interest, to report misconduct or maladministration. However, Owler said that the Australian Medical Association’s legal advisers had warned that there was little or no protection in the law for doctors who raised concerns about treatment of asylum seekers. A doctor’s first duty was to
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2015;350:h3008 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h3008 (Published 1 June 2015)
Page 2 of 2
NEWS
act in the interests of his or her patient and to speak on the patient’s behalf, he said. 1 2
Hartley J. Detention doctors fear for the regos. Australian Doctor 20 Dec 2013. www. australiandoctor.com.au/news/latest-news/detention-centre-doctors-fear-for-regos. Border Force Act. www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_ Results/Result?bId=r5408.
3 4
Barns G, Newhouse G. Border Force Act: detention secrecy just got worse. The Drum May 2015. www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-28/barns-newhouse-detention-centre-secrecyjust-got-even-worse/6501086. Woodhead M. Doctors face jail for reporting asylum seeker abuse. Australian Doctor 29 May 2015. www.australiandoctor.com.au/News/Latest-News/Doctors-face-jail-for-reportingasylum-seeker-abus.
Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h3008 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
