CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr WILKIE (Clark) (09:36): I have a statement here from a new offshore immigration detention whistleblower, who says: I make this statement anonymously because I am fearful that being identified would have an impact on my employment or even my safety. Through my employment, I am involved in the process which sees individuals removed from Australia and taken to the Republic of Nauru.

I have come to hold grave concerns about the physical safety of individuals removed to Nauru. Those concerns arose following firsthand conversations with other individuals directly involved in the Australian-Nauru program of removal and management of these individuals once in Nauru. These concerns relate most acutely to the NZYQ cohort.

In numerous conversations, serious threats of physical violence were made in relation to those removed to Nauru. These were not idly-made threats. They were said with a tone and gravity that indicated, at best, an indifference to the dignity and wellbeing of the removed cohort, and, at worst, an active desire to cause them serious harm.

I came to understand that those responsible for overseeing the removed cohort had a fundamental lack of respect for the humanity and rights of the cohort. The threats included comments that those removed were quote 'absolute (blank) pieces of (blank)', who, in Nauru, would be mistreated in such a way to make quote 'very clear how they are going to be managed for the rest of their lives.' This threat was made by someone who I understood was contracted by either the Australian government, or the Nauruan government with Australian funding, who was directly involved in the management of the removed cohort.

I was absolutely shocked by such unashamed and gratuitous threats of violence. From my perspective, these comments were not isolated. Another relevant individual indicated that those removed from Australia would, on arrival, face a reckoning—with justice in Nauru served on the streets, rather than through formal channels.

I took this to mean that the removed cohort faced the risk of vigilante violence from those entrusted to safeguard their wellbeing in Nauru. I have repeatedly tried to raise concerns about these matters through appropriate channels. To date, I have seen no evidence that my concerns have been addressed.

Instead, I understand that Nauru has recently enacted a law to permit so-called community monitoring officers to monitor the cohort and use force if necessary; in other words, to give legal authorisation to these threats of physical violence. As the process of removal of individuals from Australia to Nauru continues, I feel no option but to bring my concerns to the Australian people.

It would be a travesty if, forewarned with my concerns, the Australian government nonetheless continued conduct that saw those removed to Nauru experience physical violence. Thank you.