CANBERRA – Lawyers and asylum seeker advocates say they are concerned about new laws applying to some people working in detention centres.

The Border Force Act could see some government-contracted workers at onshore and offshore detention facilities risk up to two years in jail if they speak out about what they see.

Barrister and spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance Greg Barnes said the act had a “chilling effect”.

“It effectively turns the Department of Immigration into a secret security organisation with police powers,” he said.

“And what it does will prevent professional groups, international human rights bodies, doctors, counsellors, teachers, – anyone who’s working in immigration detention centres who raises concerns about the treatment of asylum seekers and conditions in those centres – if they don’t have the authorisation of the department to reveal that information to the media or any other person or organisation then they can go to jail for up to two years, so it will have a chilling effect.”

The Act was passed with bipartisan support, with only the Greens opposing it.

Barnes said it gave the Federal Government too much power over what can be said about immigration detention centres.

“If for example a psychologist is working in a detention centre, that psychologist then comes back from the centre and writes an article, for the ABC or for a newspaper documenting in that person’s clinical opinion – the long-term physical and mental harm that’s being meted out to asylum seekers – that person could go to jail,” he said.

“I mean, this is the sort of legislation that you wouldn’t find unsurprising in countries that don’t have real democracy.

“But for this legislation to pass an Australian Parliament, I think it’s appalling.”

Dr John-Paul Sanggaran used to work for the Immigration Department’s healthcare provider International Health and Medical Services on Christmas Island.

He said it was already difficult to speak out when worried for the welfare of asylum seekers and he is concerned about what the new laws would mean for people such as doctors, nurses and social workers who work in detention centres.

“We already have a situation where there’s a significant veil of secrecy around immigration detention. Some of the barriers include the fact that you could lose your job,” he said.

“That’s obviously personally devastating for you and your family, and I guess we already signed secrecy or confidentiality agreements and people are already concerned about breaking those because they don’t want to deal with the legal consequences.

“Add to that an explicit two-year jail sentence for doing what we all should all be doing – advocating for our patients, looking after those for whom we have a duty of care – and you’re just simply going to increase the barriers that exist to people coming out and talking about what they see in immigration detention which is gross human rights violations.”

Dr Sanggaran is to publish an open letter about the concerns he and others have.

“We’re not going to stop talking about what we’ve seen,” he said. “The things that we’ve seen are too terrible – human rights abuses, sexual abuse, child abuse – and we’re not going to respond to these threats from the government.”

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s Pamela Curr said she remained concerned for people living in detention centres.

She said she was particularly worried for women in the Nauru offshore detention centre.

“The situation on Nauru is very difficult. Some women have reported sexual abuse and virtually been punished for it,” she said.

“There are other women in the camp who are too afraid to report sexual abuse because, as they say, a Nauru police officer one day can be a cleaner in the camp the next.

The government has said there are federal laws that protect whistleblowers.

“Now the Government said, well there is an out if doctors think that people’s lives are in jeopardy they can speak out, and of course there is some limited whistleblower legislation at the Commonwealth level,” Barnes said.

“Neither of those will mitigate against the chilling effect of this legislation and that is that people will say, ‘look, I’m risking up to two years’ jail if I do the right thing and exercise my conscious to speak out about abuse in detention centres’.”

There is currently a Senate inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse at the Nauru detention facility.