The Australian government will pay $4.6m to a controversial US private prisons operator for 52 days of preparatory work ahead of its expected takeover of the offshore processing regime on Nauru, despite a range of serious allegations made against the company abroad.
The US-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC) has been accused in civil suits of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures that allegedly led to the gang-rape of a woman in detention, the murder of two retirees by escaped prisoners, and the months-long solitary confinement of a US citizen wrongfully held in immigration detention. It has also paid a multi-million dollar fine over a government bribery scandal.
Earlier this year, MTC was identified as the preferred contractor to take over the offshore processing regime on Nauru.
Negotiations have not been finalised but the Department of Home Affairs has signed an initial contract designed to allow MTC to commence transition and preparatory activities on Nauru.
The contract was awarded via limited tender and will give MTC more than $4.6m for 52 days between 9 August and the end of September. The Guardian understands the contract posted publicly is a “letter of intent” to allow MTC to start preparatory and transition activities, but it has not started providing services.
The previous contractor on the island – Canstruct International – is also being paid during the same period. Canstruct’s contract, which has grown to more than $1.8bn over five years, ends on 30 September.
Its current contract extension – $218m from 1 January this year – earns the Brisbane company about $800,000 every day.
For the 52 days when there are contractually two service providers on the island, Canstruct will earn $41m.
There are currently just over 100 refugees and asylum seekers held on Nauru, most of whom are seeking resettlement elsewhere, the majority in New Zealand.
Betelhem Tebubu, a human rights activist who was previously detained on Nauru, said the news of the new contract was shocking.
“I was expecting good news, we were excited about this new government and now we are just getting this destructive news. It is very sad, I was expecting things were going to get better. I feel very sad, sad for the people held on Nauru.
“The conditions in Nauru are horrible, we lost our future, our dreams were stolen, and now this contract. People should be signing resettlement papers, not contracts. It is 10 years and people are still there.”
Ogy Simic of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said indefinite arbitrary detention offshore had “denied rights and destroyed lives”.
“The current system is a moral and financial black hole … Enough is enough, evacuate people now and let them live in the Australian community with a clear resettlement pathway.”
MTC referred all queries on its security record to the Department of Home Affairs. The department said: “The procurement process has involved multiple layers of due diligence and governance.”
A department spokesperson said all of those currently held on Nauru were in community accommodation and that the new contract would not involve “detention”, but “if required, closed compound arrangements are implemented for the shortest possible period”.
Under the proposed contract, MTC would be obliged to “treat all transferees with respect and courtesy, and without harassment of any kind; and behave in a tolerant, respectful and culturally sensitive manner towards transferees, avoiding perceptions of discrimination and bias”, among other conditions.
The spokesperson said the government remained committed to maintaining regional processing as part of Operation Sovereign Borders, which had “successfully stemmed the flow of irregular maritime ventures to Australia, disrupted people smuggling operations in the region and prevented unnecessary deaths at sea”.
