In October 2014 Scott Morrison the then Minister for Immigration and Border Protection announced that former integrity Commissioner Philip Moss would conduct an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse occurring at the Nauru Detention Centre that houses detainees refused entry into Australian territories.

The ABC report of the announcement of the inquiry said the following:

“Mr Morrison said the investigation would give the Government “a clear picture about what the situation” was in the Nauru detention centre.

“The matters that have been brought to my attention are concerning, certainly the allegations of sexual misconduct are abhorrent and I would be horrified to think that things of that nature have taken place,” he said.

“The public don’t want to be played for mugs with allegations being used as some sort of political tactic in all of this.

“Issues of sexual misconduct have to be taken very seriously and it’s incumbent on those making allegations as well as those looking at these allegations to do so in good faith and with a view of protecting the innocent.”

Mr Morrison dismissed a suggestion the review showed offshore detention centres were untenable.

“I’m not going to put up with misconduct in centres whether they’re onshore or working with the Nauruan or Papua New Guinean governments,” he said.

He also cited allegations of people orchestrating protests and encouraging detainees to hurt themselves in an effort to undermine the detention system.

“I have been provided with reports indicating that staff of service providers at the Nauru centre have been allegedly engaged in a broader campaign with external advocates to seek to cast doubt on the Government’s border protection policies more generally, and that also cast some doubt on the integrity of previous allegations,” he said.

Mr Morrison said the Government needed to have confidence that service providers were acting with professionalism.

“[They] are employed to do a job, not to be political activists,” he said.

“Headaching, false claims and worse – allegedly coaching self harm and using children in protests is also completely unacceptable, whatever their political views or whatever their agendas.””

Over the last few months all parties who have an interest in this area have been calling for the release of the Moss report. Finally on March 20th 2015 the report was released. There have been a number of discussions on social media as to what the report says. Let me reproduce for you, dear reader, reports of the inquirys’ analysis that are relevant. The full report can be accessed here:

From the Sydney Morning Herald‘s report into the findings from Philip Moss: (I have added the highlights)

“An independent review into sexual abuse inside Australia’s detention centre on Nauru has found evidence of rape, sexual assault of minors and guards trading marijuana for sexual favours from female detainees.

The review, conducted by former integrity commissioner Philip Moss, found no evidence that Save the Children staff on Nauru had coached detainees to embarrass the Abbott government.

Mr Moss found compelling evidence that at least three women have been raped inside the detention centre and raised concern that sexual assault is likely to be under-reported due to a climate of fear and detainees worrying about their future refugee status.

“The review became aware of three allegations of rape (two female and one female minor), one which the Nauruan Police Force is investigating and two which the victims do not want to pursue by making a complaint. These allegations are concerning. They are also concerning because two of the victims do not feel able to bring forward these allegations to relevant authorities,” the report states.

The report confirmed that one of the suspected rapists, a male detainee, has been given refugee status and settled on Nauru.

Many of the complaints by female asylum seekers revolve around Nauruan guards employed by Australian contractors Wilson Security and Transfield Services, with allegations of drunkenness and lechery. Twelve guards have been sacked by those companies for misconduct.

Female detainees live in an environment of fear, according to the review. It details instances of guards spying on women as they lie inside their tents in their underwear due to the tropical heat of Nauru.

A female detainee reported a guard “drunk and on drugs” stopping her in front of a tent. “Then he suddenly grabbed my arm and he said ‘you are so sexy and you’re so beautiful’,” she told Mr Moss.

An incident in which a guard demanded to see a female detainee naked in return for allowing her an extra two minutes in the shower with her young child was confirmed.

Mr Moss found evidence of “sexual favours being exchanged for marijuana is possibly occurring” based on interviews with detainees.

A Wilson intelligence report of June 2014, obtained by the review, suggested that “organised prostitution … in relation to trading of contraband” was happening.

The review obtained information from intelligence reports authored by Wilson Security staff, highlighting possible “subversive” activity by Save the Children staff.

“None of this information indicated conclusively to the review that particular contract service provider staff members had engaged in these activities,” it found.

Mr Moss has proposed that the department find a way to resolve the unfair deportation of the staff.”

The essence of this is that the environment that is faced by the detainees on Nauru is toxic at best. The reality is that sexual assaults and degradation of some of the women does appear to be occurring. This is, on any reckoning of human rights issues, completely unacceptable.

This is the response (in part) from the government via the Minister for Immigration, Peter Dutton.

“When serious allegations relating to the conditions and circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru were made, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection commissioned an independent review by former Integrity Commissioner Mr Philip Moss.

Mr Moss’s report was delivered to the departmental Secretary early last month. It outlines some very disturbing matters including drug dealing, sexual assault and rape. I do not intend to comment on the individual issues as many remain the subject of investigation or ongoing review by the Nauruan Police, the Department, the service providers at the Nauru RPC and the Australian Federal Police.

But let me state emphatically, that as Minister I have zero tolerance for any form of criminal activity. Sexual assault, particularly involving minors is personally abhorrent to me. The concerning issues outlined by Mr Moss are not isolated to the detention centres – unfortunately they occur daily in our own society.

Our response to these problems in the detention centres is – as it would be in that wider society. Serious allegations of wrongdoing must be adequately assessed and reported for appropriate investigation.

Mr Moss has made 19 recommendations.

The Department has accepted and responded to all of those recommendations. Secretary Pezzullo assures me there is a clear implementation plan and the Department is already working with the Government of Nauru and the RPC service providers to implement that response.

Over and above the Moss recommendations, I have advised the Department of further strategies to be taken. The Secretary is working on these matters and will provide more information in the near future.”

Many questions have been asked about the timing of the release of the Moss report. As the Strewth Editor in The Australian saw it:

“JUST because Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has had his hands on the Moss report since February 9 doesn’t mean he has to turn his back on the magic of spontaneity. Yesterday, he gave just 50 minutes’ notice of his press conference, where he had two press releases ready to go but no copies of the report into detention conditions on Nauru. Our colleague Sean Parnell, who had to read it in a hurry on his phone, was one of just two journalists there. He asked, “If the report was completed in early February, why are you releasing it today with less than an hour’s notice in Brisbane on the day that a former prime minister has died and there’s a cyclone up north?” Dutton declared this an “appalling” question, because, well, who could possibly look at all that and … and … Moving along …”

Both Graeme Innes (Former Human Rights Commissioner) and Alastair Nicholson (Chair of Children’s Rights International) were critical of the government’s response to the Moss report and the previous attacks by Government members of the report by Gillian Triggs from The Australian Human Rights Commission:

“Earlier, former disability commissioner with the Human Rights Commission Graeme Innes said the Moss review confirmed the criticisms made by Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs.

Ms Triggs was heavily criticised by the Abbott Government for her Forgotten Children report, which called for a royal commission into the detention of children under both Labor and Coalition governments, and was labelled a “transparent stitch-up” by Mr Abbott.

He also said the allegations detailed in the Moss review further exposed the treatment of asylum seekers in immigration detention.

“This report confirms that. And it’s just another independent source of advice confirming that, as Australians, we should be very concerned about the way that we’re treating people who’ve done nothing wrong, who have just left very difficult situations in their own countries and sought asylum with us,” he said.

“The Government was mistaken in criticising Professor Triggs anyway, irrespective of the findings of this report. That was a totally inappropriate action by the Attorney-General and the Government.”

Former family court judge Alistair Nicholson, who chairs child advocacy group Children’s Rights International, said the review showed Nauru was no place for children.

“It confirms, really, the sorts of criticism that Gillian Triggs and the Human Rights Commission made of the system generally,” he said.

“The Nauru facility is an appalling facility. It’s not a proper place to hold children.

“The evidence is all one way and it’s an extreme discredit to Australia that we should be party to this sort of behaviour and treat people in this way.

“It’s particularly, I suppose, ironic that … this report should have been released on the day of Malcolm Fraser’s death. Because Malcolm himself had made it very clear what his views were about this.”

Some comfort can be gleaned from the fact that the Government has accepted all 19 of the recommendations of the Moss report. It is hoped that the department and Minister will move swiftly to implement those recommendations and ensure that the sexual assaults and misconduct are stamped out. Though it must be said that the Prime Minister’s response was disappointing to say the least:

“When Prime Minister Tony Abbott was asked about the Government’s response to the review on Macquarie Radio yesterday afternoon he said; “Occasionally, I dare say, things happen.”

“Because in any institution you get things that, occasionally, aren’t perfect,” Mr Abbott said.”

A further area that has been a concern of a number of advocates in this area relates to the number of children with disability in Nauru and other Immigration Places of Detention. One of the organisations I head up is the National Ethnic Disability Alliance. We are currently finalising a report on the children with disability (cwd’s) in these detention centres. Our concerns lie in the fact that these cwd’s are not entitled to any services under the NDIS systems and processes. Therefore there is no one to advocate for them to ensure that the disabilities they have are being appropriately dealt with. Currently we believe that there are 28 children with disabilities in these centres. We will continue to seek clarification from Immigration as to numbers, types of disabilities and appropriate service delivery for these children whilst they remain wards of the Immigration Minister of the Australian Government.

Anecdotally we have been advised that even such issues as Epilepsy are not appropriately dealt with. We have been advised that PWE (People with Epilepsy), have their medication taken away from them for security reasons. The untimely administration of AED’s (Anti Epileptic Drugs) can be very dangerous and can result in lasting impact on these people.

Clearly these incidents and other evidence that we are receiving highlights the fact that the Pacific Solution was not well thought through and was very much an electoral promise that needed to be kept. Hopefully the government will now rethink the use of these detention centres and consider processing alternatives for these poor souls seeking our solace and humanity.