Comcare has warned the Australian government that failures to control violence, drug use and fire risks in immigration detention centres are likely placing it in breach of workplace safety laws. Internal documents detail incidents at Melbourne immigration detention centre (MIDC) and Villawood, while the regulator says the Department of Home Affairs hasn’t shown that its current controls adequately reduce the risks.
Incidents at Melbourne detention centre
At MIDC, incidents involving violence, aggression, illicit substances and improvised weapons have occurred since August. On 18 August, a violent altercation between two groups led to six detainees being hospitalised 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.
Comcare said the incidents pointed to a failure to control rising risks at MIDC and across the detention network. In its notice, the regulator said: “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.”
The notice specified risks linked to violence, aggression, illicit substances and improvised weaponry. The department told Comcare it had taken a range of actions, but the regulator said it hadn’t sufficiently demonstrated that those measures effectively eliminated or minimized risks as far as reasonably practicable. Comcare described the hazards as an ongoing risk of serious harm to workers and others in the centres.
Villawood fire warnings
A separate Comcare document recorded 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 the contractor’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 were hospitalized. 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”, which the regulator said was a likely breach of work health and safety regulations.
The document said multiple notifiable fire incidents over approximately four months, especially after earlier regulatory intervention concerning substantially the same risk, gave the department repeated and compelling grounds to review its controls. The department’s role in assessing and managing those risks is central to the regulator’s concerns.
Contractor and government response
Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a US private prison company, won the $2.3bn detention contract in late 2024. The federal government has tried to improve the company’s performance through financial penalties and a meeting last year between the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, and the company’s global president.
The Guardian had previously reported escapes, staff injuries and sick detainees missing medical appointments because there weren’t enough staff to escort them. Lyndal Ryan, national president of the United Workers Union, which represents workers in the centres, said the notices showed “the continuing dangerous situations facing workers and detainees inside detention centres, and Secure Journeys' inability or unwillingness to address those issues”. She said the union had repeatedly raised understaffing concerns and that Comcare had made clear the department was responsible for pulling Secure Journeys into line. Ryan described the Villawood fires as signs of “the instability and chaos our members are witnessing almost every day”.
A spokesperson for MTC’s local subsidiary, Secure Journeys, said its commitment to safe and secure operations and the welfare of staff and detainees remained its top priority. An Australian Border Force spokesperson said safety and security arrangements across the network were continually reviewed, and that Comcare notices were assessed and answered through established workplace health and safety processes. The spokesperson said the welfare, safety and dignity of people in immigration detention, as well as staff safety, remained the Department’s highest priorities.