Comcare warns of likely safety-law breach at Australian detention centres

Documents catalogue stabbings, fires, and overdose at MTC facilities

Australia’s federal work safety regulator has told the Department of Home Affairs that it has formed a “reasonable belief” the department is in breach of the Work Health and Safety Act at two immigration detention facilities operated by Secure Journeys, the local subsidiary of U.S. private prison company Management and Training Corporation, according to internal documents seen by The Guardian.

In its notice to the department, Comcare said it had “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 regulator singled out “the risks associated with violence, aggression, and the presence of illicit substances and improvised weaponry” as not being adequately managed, and said the department had “not sufficiently demonstrated that the control measures currently in place are effective in eliminating or minimising the risks, so far as is reasonably practicable.” Comcare added that the hazards “pose an ongoing risk of serious harm to workers and others in the centres.”

The documents catalogue a string of incidents at Melbourne immigration detention centre (MIDC) since August. The most serious was a violent altercation on 18 August between two groups of detainees that left six people hospitalised for “slashing and stabbing injuries made using improvised weapons.” On 10 September, a detainee at MIDC was found overdosed in his room; staff administered Naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdose effects.

A separate Comcare document detailed eight fire-related incidents at Villawood in Sydney between February and May, despite prior warnings to government to intervene after a fire on 23 September 2025 in which MTC staff rushed into a detainee’s room without proper safety equipment to save him, hospitalising two workers. The regulator found the department had not carried out a systematic review of “all fire and smoke control measures falling within its influence or control,” a likely breach of work health and safety regulations.

“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 Comcare document said.

Management and Training Corporation won the $2.3 billion Australian detention contract in late 2024. The company also holds contracts to hold U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees, according to The Guardian, and was used by President Donald Trump for that purpose. The federal government has previously attempted to push MTC and Secure Journeys to lift performance, including through financial penalties and a meeting last year between home affairs minister Tony Burke and MTC’s global president. The Guardian previously reported a series of incidents across the centres since Secure Journeys took over, including escapes, staff injuries and sick detainees missing medical appointments due to a lack of staff to escort them.

Lyndal Ryan, national president of the United Workers Union, which represents workers in the centres, said the Comcare notices show “the continuing dangerous situations facing workers and detainees inside detention centres, and Secure Journeys’ inability or unwillingness to address those issues.” The union has continually raised concerns about understaffing in the centres, and Ryan said Comcare has made clear the department has the responsibility to pull 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,” Ryan said.

A spokesperson for Secure Journeys told The Guardian: “In response to your questions, I can confirm that Secure Journeys’ commitment to maintaining safe and secure operations, as well as both staff and detainee welfare remains our top priority.” The Australian Border Force was contacted for comment.