Significant concerns about the treatment of women in immigration detention identified by the Australian Human Rights Commission in its 2024 inspection report remain unresolved, underscoring the need for stronger safeguards and improved conditions for women in detention.
The Commission’s latest report, Not just an afterthought revisited: Follow-up inspection of women in immigration detention at Villawood IDC, examines progress made since the Commission’s inspection of Australia’s immigration detention facilities for women.
The follow-up inspection, led by Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay, identified that many of the underlying issues in the December 2024 report are unresolved.
‘Our follow-up inspection found that the central problem remains. Women are still being held in a detention system that is overwhelmingly designed around the needs and experiences of men.
‘Too many women continue to face uncertainty, limited autonomy and barriers to accessing the support and information they need. While some risks have been reduced, many of the issues we identified nearly two years ago remain unresolved.’
Women continue to experience prolonged and uncertain detention, with the Commission hearing concerns about staff shortages, workforce capability, food quality, movement restrictions, increased escort requirements, violence and safety incidents, and ongoing difficulties recruiting and retaining suitably experienced staff.
Some genuine improvements, including the relocation of women, have been implemented and reduced some of the serious privacy and safety risks previously detected. Inspectors also observed examples of strong local leadership and positive efforts by Villawood staff to improve conditions for women in detention. The report also found limited progress on many of the Commission’s previous recommendations. In some areas, progress was incomplete or difficult to assess, particularly in relation to gender-responsive training, communication, mental health care and guidance for transgender and gender-diverse people in detention.
‘The improvements made since our 2024 inspection matter, and we recognise the efforts of staff working within a challenging environment,’ Commissioner Finlay said.
‘But the current conditions are not adequate. Every woman in detention deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and humanity. We look forward to working with the Government and relevant agencies to ensure the recommendations in this report lead to meaningful and lasting change and that conditions are improved.’
The report makes 10 recommendations focused on key implementation gaps and emerging concerns identified during the follow-up inspection. These include calls for greater transparency about progress on recommendations from the Commission’s 2024 report, gender-responsive training for staff, improved mental health care, strengthened communication and status resolution processes, and greater use of alternatives to closed detention.
The Department of Home Affairs has agreed to 8 of the 10 recommendations in the report, and partially agreed to 2 (recommendations 6 and 10).
