Dutton retreats on offshore detention secrecy rules that threaten workers with jail – The Guardian

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, says he will clarify the Turnbull governments offshore detention centre secrecy provisions. Photograph: Dean Lewins/EPA

The Turnbull government has moved to water down secrecy provisions that threaten workers in Australias offshore detention centres with two years prison if they speak out about abuse or neglect.

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has put forward amendments to the 2015 Australian Border Force Act that will make it easier for social workers, lawyers, nurses and security guards working in Australias offshore detention centres to talk publicly about the shocking treatment of refugees without being jailed.

Refugee advocates say it represents a stunning backdown on the governments controversial legislation, arguing the government is only doing so because it is in the middle of a high court challenge against the legislation that it knows it will lose.

But Dutton says his amendments simply aim to clarify the intent of the governments original legislation to stop the unauthorised disclosure of information that could harm the national or public interest.

It effectively waters down the bill, Dr Barri Phatarfod from Doctors 4 Refugees told Guardian Australia. Dutton and his office argue that it clarifies the intention of the bill, which may well be the case ... but its taken over two years for him to clarify something that he wasnt unaware of.

Heads of various peak medical and other professional bodies have been appealing to him since [the legislation was introduced in 2015].

Lawyers from the Fitzroy Legal Service, working on behalf of Doctors 4 Refugees, filed a case in the high court last year, challenging section 42 the secrecy provision of the Border Force Act.

Section 42 carries a two-year jail term for any entrusted person anybody who works within the immigration detention system who makes an unauthorised disclosure about conditions in the camps.

They argued the controversial legislation had compromised, and potentially criminalised, the actions of doctors who were only seeking to advance their patients interests by speaking out publicly on behalf of the refugees and asylum seekers they treated.

The Turnbull government subsequently removed health professionals from the definition of immigration and border protection workers but the groups have not dropped the high court challenge.

Phatarfod said doctors cannot treat refugees properly if non-health professionals such as teachers, cleaners, and security guards are unable to report or share information about refugees because they fear that they, too, could be jailed.

Duttons amendments mean the secrecy provision will now be refined to only apply to information that may compromise Australias security, defence or international relations, interfere with the investigation of offences, or affect sensitive personal and commercial matters.

The amendments will apply retrospectively, dating back to 1 July 2015 when the Border Force Act was enacted.

The retrospective application of the bill will provide the necessary certainty that only information which could harm the national or public interest, if disclosed, is to be protected, and will be regarded as ever having been protected, under the ABF act, Dutton said.

This will reassure individuals who may otherwise believe they have committed an offence, in circumstances which would not have amounted to an offence under these amendments.

This bill will clarify the intent and refine the operation of the secrecy and disclosure provisions that govern the management of information in my portfolio.

It illustrates the fine balance that must be struck in protecting sensitive information while upholding a commitment to open and accountable government.

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Dutton retreats on offshore detention secrecy rules that threaten workers with jail - The Guardian