Australia’s new onshore immigration detention operator has been accused by workers and their union of unsafe and “deliberate” levels of understaffing, as the number of critical incidents increase in the centres.
This sharp reduction in staffing levels has prompted a rare public intervention from the Australian government, which said it was aware of “concerns” about its primary immigration detention contractor and signalled it has raised the issue with the company.
The US private prison company Management & Training Corporation – which has played a key role in the US immigration crackdown – has operated Australia’s onshore detention network since March 2025.
Its local subsidiary, Secure Journeys, took over from embattled provider Serco, winning a contract worth $2.3b in late 2024. MTC is also being paid $790m to hold 100 people on Nauru.
An Australian Border Force spokesperson said the company is required to meet strict contractual obligations in providing detention services. “The Department … continues to work with Secure Journeys to ensure each facility is safely and appropriately staffed,” they said.
The United Workers Union (UWU), which represents workers in the centres, alleged understaffing is driven by a business model that “prioritises lower headcounts and flexibility over safety”.
“Morale was at an all-time low with Serco, and now it’s lower than that,” said Godfrey Moase, executive director of allied industries at the UWU.
The issue is driven in part by onerous roster patterns and payroll issues, the union and staff claim, which is driving workers to exhaustion and out of roles.
The UWU estimates there were about 1,000 workers across the network as of late 2025, including contractors and subcontractors – down from approximately 1,900 nationally in 2023. It claims that understaffing issues are most acute in the largest and highest-risk centres.
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“They are running it like a prison,” said John*, a detention service officer at Brisbane Immigration Detention Centre. He estimates that a compound which used to run with four workers may now be run with two or sometimes only one.
“Overnight, there are … compounds [with] only one staff member], which is absolutely unsafe,” he alleged.
SafeWork NSW said it has made multiple visits to the Villawood centre since March 2025, and been notified of three workplace incidents and received five requests for service regarding worker health and safety. It did not provide any further detail about the incidents.
“SafeWork NSW continues to monitor the progress of the business in taking the required actions,” a spokesperson said.
Simon*, a detention service officer at Villawood under both Secure Journeys and Serco, said there has been a significant reduction in staff numbers on site. He’s also questioned whether some new officers, who are sent to a five-day bridging course, are being properly trained.
The death of a detainee at Villawood in January has contributed to employees’ low morale, Simon said. Police charged a 29-year-old man who was also a detainee at the centre with murder. “After that incident, people are a bit apprehensive,” he said.
It’s not the only incident. In December, a detainee was charged after allegedly assaulting multiple security officers at Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in Western Australia, including pressing a cigarette into the neck of one and punching another in the face. At Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre in August, another male detainee allegedly assaulted two male officers and was later charged.
Most of the population in Australia’s onshore immigration detention network are now the subject of character-based visa cancellations. As at 30 June 2025 there was a rate of 59 critical incidents per 1,000 detainees, according to the Home Affairs 2024–25 annual report, compared with 27.84 critical incidents per 1,000 detainees in the previous year.
Sexual assault critical incidents increased from 19 incidents in 2023–24 to 30 incidents during 2024–25.
Moase said those numbers reflect the industrial and safety issues “that members are raising to us on a near constant basis”.
Those detained in the centres have also noticed the low staffing numbers.
Michael*, who is detained at Yongah Hill, said there is now only one officer for each compound where there used to be two to three, which he feels is unsafe for everyone. The number of activity officers, who might guide events like coffee clubs for detainees, has also declined.
“We had twice as many activities under Serco,” he said. “Pretty useless activities, but at least it’s something that breaks up your days, breaks up the monotony.”
Several sources in immigration told Guardian Australia that staff from Parklea, a private prison run by MTC for Corrective Services NSW, have been seconded to some of its immigration detention centres.
Michael said he had also noticed a high rate of staff turnover and workers brought over from MTC’s private corrections facility. “People that have not been fully trained up that this is not a prison,” he said.
Staff now often work across multiple roles, according to several sources inside the centres. Incident Response Team (IRT) members, for example, who are meant to respond to critical incidents in the centres like fights, may be used to take detainees to appointments. The union claims response times to incidents are significantly delayed as a result. The company is now also using labour hire drivers for detainee transport.
Greens senator David Shoebridge accused global prison operators like MTC of aiming to maximise profits, causing harm to people in immigration detention and workers.
“Putting vulnerable people into mandatory detention always creates a risk of harm, when you add privatisation into the mix it guarantees it,” he claimed.
“MTC won’t safely staff these centres and this means the contracts should be terminated and the centres should be closed.”
John said there have been “serious safety and security breaches across the network” since MTC took over. “If you look at what happened in the last 10 months, we had multiple escapes. We had repeated assault on staff because we are outnumbered,” John said.
“It not only compromises the safety of staff, it compromises the safety of detainees that we look after every day.”
MTC and Secure Journeys declined to answer questions.
