PRIVATE CONTRACTORS AT ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE PROCESSING CENTRES

 

The Australian Government contracts private companies to run immigration detention centres in Australia, and offshore at asylum seeker regional processing centres. Over the past decade, these companies have been the subject of allegations of misconduct and abuse. There have been detailed government investigations into private contractor conduct and processes with regard to asylum seekers and refugees. This explainer provides a brief overview of the private companies currently operating in Australia and Nauru, as well as companies previously contracted, and some of the key reports into their management of detention centres.

Management and Training Corporation (MTC)

MTC Australia is a subsidiary of the United States-based private prison operator, Management and Training Corporation (MTC). MTC Australia took over the contract to provide “reception, garrison and welfare services” for asylum seekers held on Nauru in September 2022. The original contract was for $47 million over two months and subsequently extended to December 2022. In January 2023, the government extended the contract for another three years for $422 million. In October 2025, the government extended it to 2027 and increased its total value to $787 million.

MTC has faced allegations of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures in the United States. More recently, MTC has played a key role in running detention facilities during Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) violent crackdown. The Guardian reported that MTC has received “a string of complaints” for its treatment of ICE detainees, including allegations of assault, severe overcrowding and the death of a detainee in September.

In November 2024, MTC also secured a five-year contract to run 7 Immigration Detention Centres onshore and several Alterative Places of Detention in Australia through another subsidiary, Secure Journeys. The deal is worth $2.3 billion. Secure Journeys is facing allegations by workers of deliberate understaffing, lack of appropriate training, and unsafe conduct.

Serco

Serco is a British company that was contracted to run both onshore and offshore detention centres from 2009 to 2024, receiving a total of $7.6 billion from the government. Serco received sustained criticism for over 15 years.

In late 2020, CCTV footage showed a detainee being subdued by use of excessive force by five Serco guards. Media investigations alleged abuse and mistreatment, prison-like conditions and a militarised approach to rising tensions within detention facilities managed by Serco. Riots on Christmas Island in early 2021 saw two compounds set alight, and the use of rubber bullets and tear gas. In 2022, fire extinguishers and other firefighting equipment were used on detainees in Christmas Island against departmental policy. Serco was later fined for having concealed the use of firefighting equipment in incident reports.

Canstruct

Canstruct is a Queensland-based construction company. It was contracted by the Australian Government from September 2017 to September 2022 to run garrison and welfare services for refugees in Nauru. Over five years, Canstruct was paid $1.82 billion. Canstruct has been investigated for allegedly misappropriating or misusing millions of dollars of public funds. A Department of Home Affairs whistle-blower alleges that Canstruct was paid for services that were never needed nor delivered.

Paladin

Paladin, an Australian company, provided security and project support services on Manus Island from 2017 to 2019, taking over from Broadspectrum which provided services in both Nauru and PNG from 2012 to 2017.

Paladin was contracted through a closed tender process after the PNG government did not take over the management of the centre as originally planned. Paladin had been assessed as a high-risk entity as it had little experience in operating a detention facility. DHA paid Paladin $5.5 million before it had provided any services, and a further $89 million before a formal contract had been signed. The tender process by which it received its contract became known as the ‘Paladin Affair’.

Between May 2018 and October 2019, Paladin was fined 5,484 times with penalties upwards of $5.8 million for performance failures. In 2019, substantial evidence of some staff abusing detainees, including children, came to light. Over 70 detainees also reported suicide attempts or incidents of self-harm.

The regional processing centre in Manus Island was officially closed in October 2017. The Auditor-General criticised the DHA for its management of what had become a $532 million contract with Paladin. 

Government reports

The 2017 Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee report investigated conditions at the Nauru and Manus Island regional processing centres and the serious allegations of abuse, self-harm and neglect of asylum seekers.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has previously reported annually on immigration detention conditions. The 2019 report outlined improvements in areas like the provision of welfare services to transport and escort tasks within alternative places of detention, however, raised concerns about shortfalls in privacy, mobility access, the management of complaints, use of restraints, security risk assessments and the use of force in detention facilities.

The 2020 Auditor-General’s Performance Audit report reviewed the department's management of offshore garrison support and welfare contracts, finding it to be ‘largely appropriate’ and contractor performance reporting and monitoring to be ‘partly adequate’. These investigations followed on the heels of a series of significant reports and findings, including those found in the Moss Review and the Forgotten Children report.

In November 2025, the Senate instigated a new inquiry into offshore processing and resettlement arrangements since 2022. The report is due in June 2026.

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Last updated 26 February 2026