Kathy Marks: Australians numb to death of democracy

Although the Government claims whistleblowers will be protected by existing laws, health professionals are not convinced. Photo / Thinkstock

Imagine a country where a doctor could be jailed for revealing children are at risk. Where politicians collude to camouflage the misery of people fleeing torture and persecution. A country where deeply contentious policies are shrouded in secrecy.

That country is Australia, where open and accountable government is suffering death by a thousand cuts, the latest of which was inflicted this week.

That it dominated neither headlines nor news bulletins was a reminder of how anaesthetised many Australians have become to the steady erosion of their democratic values.

Under the Border Force Act 2015, which came into force on Wednesday, anyone who is (or has been) contracted to work in an immigration detention centre, whether on the mainland or offshore, is prohibited from disclosing "sensitive operational information" to the media or anyone else, on pain of two years in prison.

The legislation could affect psychiatrists, paediatricians, nurses, teachers and social workers as well as representatives of charities and human rights organisations.

Although the Government claims whistleblowers will be protected by existing laws, health professionals are not convinced.

A dozen peak bodies have expressed grave concerns, with the Australian Medical Association condemning the new law as designed to "intimidate" doctors and nurses with an ethical duty to speak out.

Others have questioned whether the litany of misery revealed at detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea - sexual abuse, suicide attempts, mouldy tents infested with cockroaches - would have come to light had the law been in force. "Sensitive operational information" could cover a multitude of things.

The Government's motives are clear.

It took much of the heat off its turning back of asylum-seeker boats by cloaking those actions in extraordinary secrecy. Now it wants to stem the flow of bad news stories about conditions in the camps. The less is known, the less fuss can be made.

With the "on-water operations", ministers could at least claim, however spuriously, that suppressing information was necessary, to prevent people smugglers from learning their tactics. With this new gagging law, there is no such rationale.

Shamefully, Labor helped to push the legislation through - just as, when another bill passed through Parliament last week, it joined with the Coalition to vote down a Greens Party amendment which would have made the reporting of child sexual abuse in detention centres mandatory.

Perhaps doctors' fears are overblown.

It's hard to imagine, say, a paediatrician being prosecuted for revealing an epidemic of self-harm among children in the camps.

But the main effect of the new law is likely to be deterrence. John-Paul Sanggaran, one of 15 doctors who wrote a letter publicising their concerns about healthcare at the Christmas Island facility, has warned it could have "a significant chilling effect".

Even the prospect of being caught in an ethical dilemma is likely to put many health professionals off working in these factories of despair.

It's not much of a stretch to imagine that, from now on, only the tame and the crazy brave will contemplate it.

That, no doubt, is exactly what the Government intended.