Australian Human Rights Commission: Drugs, lack of care make Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre 'unsafe'

Drug trafficking and inadequate health care at a high-security Western Australian immigration detention centre are among serious concerns raised by Australian Human Rights Commission inspectors. Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay led inspectors on a two-day site visit to The Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in the remote town of Northam, east of Perth, in May 2023, with a report of their findings released on Monday. “Parts of Yongah Hill are no longer fit for purpose,” Ms Finlay said. “A majority of the people interviewed told us that they felt unsafe in detention. “The welfare and safety of both detainees and staff must be paramount but there must be a nuanced approach. “Safety is about how you treat people, not just how you keep them secure.” Ms Finlay said the cohort of people entering immigration detention had changed significantly across time. As of December 2023, there were 872 people in immigration detention nationwide, most of them men. The average time spent in detention was about 625 days, substantially higher than in the United Kingdom and countries such as Canada. Inspectors reported a rise in behaviours frequently associated with the prison system, including the trafficking of drugs and other contraband, bullying and standover tactics, and violence. The 80-page report also found a lack of access to health care including emergency, out-of-hours, and mental health services presented a significant risk to detainees. The well-being of detainees, many of them held due to visa cancellations based on character grounds, was closely linked to overall safety at the centre, the report noted. Some of the detainees interviewed said they had been harassed or intimidated by staff. They told the commission they were afraid of speaking out because they were allegedly threatened with points deductions (points can be used to make purchases within the centre). The commission made 33 recommendations to the Department of Home Affairs aimed at improving conditions at Yongah Hill and all other immigration detention centres under Australian jurisdiction. The recommendations included reducing the use of physical restraints such as handcuffs during medical transfers, increasing staff at some compounds, bolstering search powers for staff where there was reasonable suspicion of drug concealment and an independent review of health care services. The commission cautioned that drug infiltration and substance misuse was “a multi-faceted and complex issue” adding it “cannot simply be resolved through tighter security measures”. Home Affairs accepted or partially agreed with 20 of the recommendations and disagreed with seven, with the remaining six requiring government consideration. The inspection came six months before the High Court in November ruled that unlawful non-citizens could not be kept in indefinite immigration detention. “It is essential to ensure that community safety is not compromised, but also that the policy responses adopted are measured, proportionate and anchored firmly in respect for the human rights of all concerned,” Ms Finlay said.