The horrifying trauma and abuses contained in the more than 2,000 leaked Nauru files are “just the tip of the iceberg”, former Save the Children workers who wrote many of them have said.
In an unprecedented statement, 26 former workers, including case managers, social workers, child protection specialists, teachers, and adult, child and youth recreation workers have joined to publicly address the abuses and trauma that occurred on Nauru, and to call for the centre’s closure.
Their statement was in response to the Guardian’s publication of the Nauru files, the largest cache of leaked documents from inside Australia’s offshore immigration processing regime.
The documents have laid bare the extent of trauma, mental illness and abuse over more than two years, as well as the inadequate responses by service providers employed by the Australian government.
One former teacher, Jane Willey, said the Nauru files did not reveal the full extent of what they had experienced and reported.
“It appears from looking through the published database that nowhere near the full extent of the incident reports written on a day-to-day basis have been released,” she said. “What you are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Another former teacher, Judith Reen, said it was common for Save the Children staff to write reports which were then scrutinised by Wilson Security and downgraded.
“We were expected to simply report incidents and then trust Wilsons, the very organisation whose staff were sometimes alleged perpetrators, to conduct investigations,” she said.
“The lack of independent oversight meant that this reporting system was ineffective and placed asylum seekers at greater risk inside the camp.”
Natasha Blucher, a former Save the Children senior caseworker, said none of the signatories were behind the leak or were aware of where it came from, but that its release allowed them to speak out.
‘’As the authors of many of these reports, we encourage you to understand that despite the clinical and objective language we have used in our professional roles – these reports document intense suffering experienced by families, children and individuals and are irrefutable evidence of the harm caused by offshore detention,” she said.
Samantha Betts, a former child and youth recreation worker who has given evidence to a Senate inquiry, also disputed comments made earlier on Wednesday by the treasurer, Scott Morrison.
“Contrary to what the Australian government is trying to claim, these are not simply allegations,” she said. “These are objective reports of incidents that we witnessed firsthand, written in the course of our professional duties.”
