The Queensland government has passed a bill to remove legislative barriers that prohibited UN officials from visiting places of detention during their visit to Australia last year.
A UN anti-torture subcommittee suspended its tour of Australian detention facilities in October after Guardian Australia revealed Queensland refused access to some mental health facilities that hold people charged with crimes, while New South Wales blocked inspectors from entering all of its detention facilities.
States and territory governments had known for five years that the inspections would occur and some had changed laws in advance to provide for access.
The delegation’s head, Aisha Shujune Muhammad, criticised Queensland and NSW at the time for restricting UN officials’ access, citing a “lack of cooperation” and “limited understanding” by the states.
The legislation passed without opposition on Tuesday.
Queensland’s newly reappointed attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, said the bill furthers the government’s commitment “to upholding the humane treatment of people in detention”.
D’Ath said access to the facilities had been limited to preserve people’s “safety and privacy” but the subcommittee was offered the opportunity to interview staff offsite and request information before their arrival.
During debate of the bill earlier this month, the police minister, Mark Ryan, said the commonwealth government ratified the optional protocol to the convention against torture (Opcat) in 2017 “with very limited consultation with states and territories”.
He said Queensland authorities will retain the right “to temporarily prohibit or restrict the United Nations subcommittee’s delegations access to certain parts of the facility in certain circumstances”.
An objection must be made on grounds of national defence, public safety, natural disaster or serious disorder in the place of detention, according to the bill’s explanatory notes.
“This is to maintain security and good order or to conduct essential operations at those facilities,” Ryan said.
Shadow assistant minister for justice, Laura Gerber, said the LNP supported the bill but criticised the delay of its passage.
“The UN had to cancel their trip to Australia, putting us on par with Rwanda, because the state government could not get their act together,” she said during the debate.
Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, was absent during the debate after testing positive to Covid-19 but expressed his support for the bill on his website. He did, however, question whether the new laws had really been required to grant access to UN inspectors.
“I’m not convinced that this bill is more than political cover for the damage that decision did to the Queensland government’s reputation and this country’s reputation on human rights internationally,” he said in a statement.
“The Government never explained to us exactly what ‘legislative barriers’ prohibited the subcommittee’s physical access to mental health and Forensic Disability Service facilities.
“There is nothing in this bill that would prevent access being refused in a very similar manner on the subcommittee’s next visit; in fact it’s conceivable that access could be refused at even more facilities because of how broadly this is drafted.”
Berkman said the bill should only restrict access by reference to the Opcat provisions, as was done by the ACT and Tasmania’s equivalent legislation.
