Brutality with impunity GET UP

NEVILLE,

The Government is proposing new legislation that will give broad powers allowing detention centre guards to use force against asylum seekers. The Maintaining the Good Order of Immigration Detention Facilities Bill sounds well intentioned, but it will have dire implications for asylum seekers in our care.

We already witnessed the fatal consequences of excessive force being used against asylum seekers, when 23 year-old asylum seeker Reza Barati was beaten to death by detention centre guards in February last year.

We’ve also heard the disturbing allegations of guards on Nauru requesting to see women and children naked in exchange for granting them additional shower time,¹ the appalling allegations services as clear evidence that guards are abusing their power. Now the Government is seeking to give them even more power, with less accountability.

Labor is yet to announce how they will vote on the bill, and their vote will be crucial to blocking it in the Senate.

Will you contact your Labor senator and call on them to vote against this dangerous bill?

Despite the mounting evidence of excessive and unreasonable force currently being used against people in detention, the Government’s bill will authorise guards to use force with far less oversight.

If passed, the bill will allow detention centre guards to use force against asylum seekers who are engaging in a protest – much like the recent protests on Manus Island where it was reported that people were beaten and thrown into solitary confinement.² It will give guards the authority to cause grievous bodily harm to another person, so long as they “reasonably” believed it was necessary to prevent injury to another person, including themselves.

“these amendments to the Migration Act will, in effect, result in guards being authorised to beat asylum seekers in detention to death”

– the Hon Stephen Charles QC, former Victorian Supreme Court judge, 16 April 2015

Essentially, this bill will allow guards to beat asylum seekers with impunity.³

In about two week’s time the Senate Committee is expected to hand down their report on the bill, after which it’ll be put to a vote. While Shadow Immigration Minister Richard Marles has voiced concerns about the bill, Labor have not announced how they plan to vote.

Contact your Labor senator and let them know why they must reject this bill.

These powers are on par with, and in some instances broader than, the powers granted to federal police officers. Despite this, guards won’t be required to undergo the same rigorous training and background checks that police officers are subjected to. This will place the safety of asylum seekers at further risk, particularly children and people with mental health conditions.

Furthermore, if an asylum seeker wants to raise concerns about the use of excessive or reasonable force, they can have their concerns investigated by the Immigration Department – the department responsible for hiring and contracting detention centre guard, a conflict of interest that could deny justice to people in detention.⁴

We still have time to convince Labor to vote against this bill. Contact your Labor senator today: https://www.getup.org.au/force-bill

Yours in hope,
Alycia and the Getup team

~ References ~

[1] Moss review: Immigration report finds no evidence charity staff encouraged Nauru detention centre refugees to self harm or manipulate abuse allegations, ABC News, 15 April 2015
[2] Manus Island: four asylum seekers placed in solitary confinement as tensions escalate, The Guardian, 28 January 2015
[3] Proposed powers allow guards ‘to beat asylum seekers in detention to death’, former judge says, ABC News, 17 April 2015
[4] Refugee Advice and Casework Service submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Maintaining the Good Order of Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2015 (Cth)