Critical Times

HUNDREDS of detainees and workers who have been through Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre may have been exposed to deadly asbestos fibres after a federal government department wrongly declared the site to be safe four years ago.
Documents obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws reveal that in July 2002 the Finance Department declared the land free of contamination when it was transferred to the Immigration Department as part of an expansion of the centre.

However, in April this year scientific tests confirmed parts of the 20ha site in Sydney’s western suburbs were contaminated with asbestos.

Officials ordered the 265 detainees to be evacuated at a cost to taxpayers of $1.5 million when NSW police refused to go on to the contaminated site to control a planned mass break-in by demonstrators because of safety concerns. The detainees were returned 10 days later when more than 11,000 tonnes of road base was tipped over the contaminated part of the site.

Immigration Department officials now fear that evidence the site was wrongly declared safe before it was used by hundreds of detainees could leave the Government exposed to compensation claims from asylum-seekers or Villawood staff.

Private company GSL took over management of Villawood, which has been progressively expanded since first being used to house migrants in 1980, in February 2004. GSL last night ruled out any action in light of the revelations.

But in a memo sent on March 31 this year, a senior department official expressed concern at “potential damage” to the Government given “previous statements … the area was safe”.

“Going back through the documents provided by Finance some time ago, all appeared OK,” wrote Chris Baseler, acting director of the Immigration Department’s Detention Infrastructure Development Section.

“As you can see, the results suggest that the area is far from safe and there is a real risk for further spread of contaminants and risk to detainees, visitors and staff at VIDC.”

Another Immigration memo dated April 9 noted: “The short story is we potentially have loose asbestos fibres being moved by wind and rain around the VIDC, including in detainee-accessible areas such as the kitchen, medical and library.”

The revelation comes two months after The Australian revealed that allegations of sexual abuse, rape and drug use at the centre were being investigated by former head of Queensland Corrective Services Keith Hamburger, on behalf of the Department of Immigration.

The claims, which included an allegation that a male detainee repeatedly raped a female detainee in front of her toddler over a six-month period in 2004, were referred to police for further investigation after Mr Hamburger’s interim report.

He has yet to conclude his investigation.

Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power yesterday called on the federal Government to contact all detainees, visitors and staff who have been to the centre since 2002. “This has been an extraordinary failure by government as potentially thousands of people have been exposed to life-threatening asbestos,” he said.

On April 11, Villawood detainees were sent to Long Bay jail, Holsworthy army barracks and detention centres at Baxter in South Australia and Maribyrnong in Victoria after Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone shut the centre down because police, concerned about asbestos contamination, refused to attend the site. It was feared protesters would target contaminated areas the police would not enter because of safety concerns.

Testing on April 13 revealed that 51 of 842 samples collected from the centre contained asbestos material, posing a low to moderate safety risk. Later testing revealed a “low-level health risk”.

The major area of contamination was at the store’s paddock, where demolition rubble had been buried beneath a cover of clean soil in 2002, although asbestos material was found at “apparently random locations” around the detention centre.

According to the Immigration documents, NSW assistant police commissioner Dave Owens warned that, on the basis of “intelligence”, there was a “seriously high risk of a number of protesters entering the VIDC site”.

“NSW police do not believe the asbestos contamination at the site will be a deterrent to the protesters … it may strengthen their resolve to make a political statement.”

All of the detainees were returned to Villawood by April 21 after tonnes of road base was tipped on the site.

Opposition public accountability spokesman Kelvin Thomson said the Villawood contamination was “yet another major bungle by the Howard Government”.

A Finance Department spokesman said when the site was transferred to Immigration in July 2002, asbestos had been identified and a mitigation plan was in place.

HUNDREDS of detainees and workers who have been through Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre may have been exposed to deadly asbestos fibres after a federal government department wrongly declared the site to be safe four years ago.
Documents obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws reveal that in July 2002 the Finance Department declared the land free of contamination when it was transferred to the Immigration Department as part of an expansion of the centre.

However, in April this year scientific tests confirmed parts of the 20ha site in Sydney’s western suburbs were contaminated with asbestos.

Officials ordered the 265 detainees to be evacuated at a cost to taxpayers of $1.5 million when NSW police refused to go on to the contaminated site to control a planned mass break-in by demonstrators because of safety concerns. The detainees were returned 10 days later when more than 11,000 tonnes of road base was tipped over the contaminated part of the site.

Immigration Department officials now fear that evidence the site was wrongly declared safe before it was used by hundreds of detainees could leave the Government exposed to compensation claims from asylum-seekers or Villawood staff.

Private company GSL took over management of Villawood, which has been progressively expanded since first being used to house migrants in 1980, in February 2004. GSL last night ruled out any action in light of the revelations.

But in a memo sent on March 31 this year, a senior department official expressed concern at “potential damage” to the Government given “previous statements … the area was safe”.

“Going back through the documents provided by Finance some time ago, all appeared OK,” wrote Chris Baseler, acting director of the Immigration Department’s Detention Infrastructure Development Section.

“As you can see, the results suggest that the area is far from safe and there is a real risk for further spread of contaminants and risk to detainees, visitors and staff at VIDC.”

Another Immigration memo dated April 9 noted: “The short story is we potentially have loose asbestos fibres being moved by wind and rain around the VIDC, including in detainee-accessible areas such as the kitchen, medical and library.”

The revelation comes two months after The Australian revealed that allegations of sexual abuse, rape and drug use at the centre were being investigated by former head of Queensland Corrective Services Keith Hamburger, on behalf of the Department of Immigration.

The claims, which included an allegation that a male detainee repeatedly raped a female detainee in front of her toddler over a six-month period in 2004, were referred to police for further investigation after Mr Hamburger’s interim report.

He has yet to conclude his investigation.

Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power yesterday called on the federal Government to contact all detainees, visitors and staff who have been to the centre since 2002. “This has been an extraordinary failure by government as potentially thousands of people have been exposed to life-threatening asbestos,” he said.

On April 11, Villawood detainees were sent to Long Bay jail, Holsworthy army barracks and detention centres at Baxter in South Australia and Maribyrnong in Victoria after Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone shut the centre down because police, concerned about asbestos contamination, refused to attend the site. It was feared protesters would target contaminated areas the police would not enter because of safety concerns.

Testing on April 13 revealed that 51 of 842 samples collected from the centre contained asbestos material, posing a low to moderate safety risk. Later testing revealed a “low-level health risk”.

The major area of contamination was at the store’s paddock, where demolition rubble had been buried beneath a cover of clean soil in 2002, although asbestos material was found at “apparently random locations” around the detention centre.

According to the Immigration documents, NSW assistant police commissioner Dave Owens warned that, on the basis of “intelligence”, there was a “seriously high risk of a number of protesters entering the VIDC site”.

“NSW police do not believe the asbestos contamination at the site will be a deterrent to the protesters … it may strengthen their resolve to make a political statement.”

All of the detainees were returned to Villawood by April 21 after tonnes of road base was tipped on the site.

Opposition public accountability spokesman Kelvin Thomson said the Villawood contamination was “yet another major bungle by the Howard Government”.

A Finance Department spokesman said when the site was transferred to Immigration in July 2002, asbestos had been identified and a mitigation plan was in place.