The federal government has repeatedly attempted to take a stick to MTC and its local subsidiary Secure Journeys to improve its performance, including through financial penalties and a fiery meeting last year between the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, and the company\u2019s global president.<\/p>\n
But new documents seen by the Guardian show serious security lapses have continued since, including through a spate of eight fire-related incidents at Villawood immigration detention centre and violence and drug use at Melbourne<\/a> immigration detention centre (MIDC). Those failings have again put the department itself in the crosshairs of Comcare, the federal work safety regulator.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n The documents reveal a string of incidents at MIDC involving violence, aggression, illicit substances and improvised weaponry since August. That includes a violent altercation on 18 August between two groups that led to six detainees being hospitalised for \u201cslashing and stabbing injuries made using improvised weapons\u201d.<\/p>\n On 10 September, a detainee was found overdosed in his room, requiring staff to administer Naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdose effects.<\/p>\n The incidents at MIDC prompted Comcare to warn the government that it was failing to control the rising number of \u201cincidents of this type at MIDC and across the broader immigration detention network\u201d. That failure meant it was likely to be in breach of the law, the document said.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Comcare said in its notice. \u201cIn particular, the risks associated with violence, aggression, and the presence of illicit substances and improvised weaponry are not being adequately managed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the department has advised that a range of actions have been undertaken to address these risks, it has not sufficiently demonstrated that the control measures currently in place are effective in eliminating or minimising the risks, so far as is reasonably practicable.\u201d<\/p>\n Comcare said the information available indicates these hazards pose an ongoing risk of serious harm to workers and others in the centres.<\/p>\n A separate Comcare document revealed that a series of eight fire-related incidents had taken place at Villawood immigration detention centre between February and May.<\/p>\n Fire damage to a room at Villawood<\/p>\n The fires occurred despite prior warnings to government to intervene after previous fires lit inside Villawood exposed serious gaps in MTC\u2019s preparedness. That includes one fire on 23 September 2025, when MTC staff rushed into a detainee\u2019s room to save him from a fire without proper safety equipment, causing two workers to be hospitalised.<\/p>\n The regulator found the department had not conducted its own systematic review of \u201call fire and smoke control measures falling within its influence or control\u201d, a likely breach of work health and safety regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d the Comcare document said.<\/p>\n
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