Transfield under fire over assaults, violence at Nauru

Transfield Services is fending off a fresh assault on its human rights record at its Nauru detention centre.

Part of the facilities at the Nauru detention centre.

Transfield Services is fending off a fresh assault on its human rights record after admitting an assault has been reported at its Nauru ­detention centre every five days for the past three years.

Anti-detention lobbyist No Business in Abuse yesterday continued its pursuit of the company that runs Australia’s detention centres on Nauru and Manus ­Island by releasing an analysis of the self-harm, abuse and assault on detainees reported by Transfield.

Transfield branded the campaign “a political attack directly at an Australian company undertaking work to fulfil a government policy that has bipartisan political support” and called the analysis “disingenuous, inflammatory and misleading”.

The clash comes a day after The Australian revealed that Transfield chairwoman Diane Smith-Gander was denied a high-profile role as head of Tourism Australia after senior members of the federal government flagged concerns about the company’s reputation. Former treasurer Joe Hockey and then minister for social ­services Scott Morrison, a former Tourism Australia head, were understood to have blocked Ms Smith-Gander’s appointment, des­pite her support from Trade Minister Andrew Robb amid fears her role at Transfield would draw ­attention to federal immigration policy.

Transfield’s figures supplied to the Senate select committee ­inquiry on Nauru earlier this year suggest a detainee at the centre injured themselves every four days on average, with 253 separate cases collated between September 2012 and the end of April this year.

An assault happened every five days with 211 in total and a sexual assault every 3 ½ months, according to Transfield, which was paid $1.2 billion over less than two years to run the Nauru centre.

Transfield also revealed that tent accommodation on Nauru held baby-change tables and sinks for babies younger than four months, but babies older were classed as “minors” and not necessarily eligible for the change-table or sink modification.

No Business in Abuse executive director Shen Narayanasamy said Transfield was profiting “from human misery”.

“The camps are at odds with international law and present an unacceptable financial, legal and reputational risk to the company,’’ she said.

According to Transfield’s own ­reports, major and critical ­incidents of self-harm and sexual assaults occurred on a regular basis, Ms Narayanasamy said.

Transfield reported that ­“serious allegations” — such as the sexual assault of a child in ­November 2013 — are first reported to its security services subcontractor Wilson Security, part of the $62 billion Sun Hung Kai property group owned by Hong Kong billionaires Raymond and Thomas Kwok.

Last year, Thomas Kwok was sentenced to five years in prison for corruption.

Transfield has moved closer to securing a five-year extension of the Nauru and Manus Island contract, worth as much as $2.7bn, after securing preferred contractor status last month. It noted the figures disclosed by No Business in Abuse had been on the public record since June.