Coalition used private contractor to collect intelligence on Nauru asylum seekers

The Australian government used private security contractors to collect intelligence on asylum seekers on Nauru, singling out those who were speaking to journalists, lawyers and refugee advocates, internal documents from 2016 reveal.

The reports were compiled in a year of intense protest against offshore detention, and were designed to brief the government about the activities of individual asylum seekers, including children, who were viewed as a threat to the regional processing centre.

One man being closely watched by Wilson was Nasir Badawi, who was detained on Nauru for four years after fleeing persecution in Iran.

The Wilson reports identified Badawi as a source for Australian media. They also briefed the government that Badawi had family based in Australia.

In an interview with the Guardian, Badawi spoke of the trauma of watching detainees set themselves on fire.

He remembered waking up with his young children one morning to find a man dead in the bed next to them.

Badawi said he always felt his family had been singled out and treated differently.

He said he was the subject of constant threats from detention centre staff, was denied a medical transfer despite serious health issues, and was kept in tent accomodation even after being found to be a refugee, unlike others who were moved to better accomodation.

Now he believes the Wilson reports identifying him as a source for Australian media may explain his treatment.

It is unclear what methods Wilson used to gather its intelligence.

But the company drew widespread condemnation in 2015, when it was revealed Wilson staff had covertly tailed Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young during a trip to Nauru.

The Wilson intelligence briefings, which commenced the following year, were sent to a group known as the joint security committee (JSC). The JSC comprised of ABF superintendents and commanders, Nauru police force superintendents and constables, officials within the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the AFP, Broadspectrum and the International Health and Medical Services.

The Guardian found another asylum seeker identified in the reports, who is now living in Australia in community detention. The man, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said his experiences on Nauru were like torture.

He was kept in an overcrowded tent in extreme heat and humidity, without air circulation, air conditioning or refrigeration.

Mould and skin disease were common, he said, and asylum seekers were forced to go to the toilet and shower in filthy conditions.

Asylum seekers were left with a feeling of helplessness and frequently told they would never get to Australia, he said.

Other documents suggest that Wilson also provided intelligence about individual asylum seekers to the Nauru police.

Wilson declined to answer questions about its work on Nauru, directing them to the government.

The home affairs department said Wilson was subcontracted by Broadspectrum, the main garrison and welfare services provider on Nauru in 2016.

Earlier this year, Australia agreed to resettle 450 refugees from Nauru in New Zealand over three years.

Haidari said there was a clear public interest in publicly exposing the treatment of those detained on Nauru.