Comcare says the Australian government is likely breaching workplace safety law as detainees are stabbed, overdose and face fires in centres run under a $2.3bn private detention contract. Six detainees were hospitalized after a violent clash at Melbourne immigration detention centre (MIDC), and workers have also faced hazards inside the centres.
Workers and detainees face the risks
Lyndal Ryan, national president of the United Workers Union, said Comcare’s notices showed “the continuing dangerous situations facing workers and detainees inside detention centres, and Secure Journeys' inability or unwillingness to address those issues”. The union represents workers in the centres and has repeatedly raised concerns about understaffing.
On 18 August, a violent altercation between two groups at MIDC left six detainees hospitalized with “slashing and stabbing injuries made using improvised weapons”. On 10 September, staff found a detainee overdosed in his room and administered Naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdose effects. Documents also record violence, aggression, illicit substances and improvised weapons at MIDC since August.
Comcare, the federal work safety regulator, said the incidents showed a failure to control rising risks at MIDC and across the detention network. The regulator said the hazards posed an ongoing risk of serious harm to workers and others in the centres.
“I have formed the reasonable belief that the department is contravening section 19 of the WHS Act by failing to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and other persons,” Comcare said in its notice. It said risks involving violence, aggression, illicit substances and improvised weaponry “are not being adequately managed.”
The department told Comcare it had taken a range of actions. But the regulator said the department hadn't sufficiently demonstrated that current measures effectively eliminated or minimized risks as far as reasonably practicable.
Fire incidents and a private contract
A separate Comcare document records eight fire-related incidents at Villawood immigration detention centre between February and May. The fires followed earlier warnings to the government to intervene over gaps in contractor Management and Training Corporation’s preparedness.
On 23 September 2025, MTC staff entered a detainee’s room to rescue him from a fire without proper safety equipment. Two workers went to hospital. Comcare found that the department hadn't conducted its own systematic review of “all fire and smoke control measures falling within its influence or control”.
“The occurrence of multiple notifiable fire incidents over a period of approximately four months, particularly after previous regulatory intervention concerning substantially the same risk, provided repeated and compelling circumstances requiring the department to review the effectiveness of relevant control measures,” the regulator said.
MTC, a US private prison company used by Donald Trump to hold ICE detainees, won the $2.3bn detention contract in late 2024. Its local subsidiary is Secure Journeys. The federal government has tried to improve MTC’s performance through financial penalties and a meeting last year between home affairs minister Tony Burke and the company’s global president.
Regulatory warnings and responses
The Guardian had previously reported escapes, staff injuries and sick detainees missing medical appointments because there weren't enough staff to escort them. Ryan said Comcare had made clear that the department was responsible for pulling Secure Journeys into line. “The list of eight fires at Villawood over a four-month period are signs of the instability and chaos our members are witnessing almost every day,” she said.
A spokesperson for Secure Journeys said the company’s “commitment to maintaining safe and secure operations, as well as both staff and detainee welfare remains our top priority.”
An Australian Border Force spokesperson said the agency continually reviewed safety and security arrangements across the detention network. “Any regulatory notices issued by Comcare are assessed and responded to through established workplace health and safety processes,” the spokesperson said, adding that the welfare, safety and dignity of people in detention and staff safety remained the Department’s highest priorities.