A man's death in detention from meth use and fighting has lifted the veil on mass drug use in a privately-run immigration centre - where Australia keeps many New Zealanders locked up.
New Zealand detainee Robert Peihopa died at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney in 2016. Photo: AFP / Facebook
The New South Wales coroner has found Robert Peihopa, 42, died of a heart attack in detention, triggered by a fight and taking methamphetamine on top of a serious but unknown heart condition.
Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan said the evidence showed meth and other drugs were widespread at the Villawood centre in Sydney in April last year when the death occurred.
Seven months earlier, a report by Serco - which runs Villawood and 11 other detention centres under a $200 million-plus contract with the Australian government - had warned that most detainees in at least one unit were using drugs, many of them intravenously.
It said it was likely they were at risk of a fatal overdose, and that the risks of "adverse behaviour" were increasing.
Though Serco's intelligence officers knew Mr Peihopa was using drugs, they did not tell any of the guards who managed him, the coroner said.
Australian media reported that Hera Peihopa, the man's mother, gave a whispered "thank you" after the coroner laid out her findings yesterday in court.
"I'm glad that everything has been laid out on the table and it's been looked at and examined and we've got more understanding," she was later quoted saying.
The federal government had delegated its duty of care to a private operator that "doesn't know what it's doing", said the Peihopa family's lawyer Duncan Fine.
Hera Peihopa had to sit through a five-day inquest in September and listen to Serco and the Department making excuses for their failings, he said.
Villawood detention centre near Sydney. Photo: AFP
Robert Peihopa went to Australia from Auckland at age 17. He had an extensive criminal record with some violent crimes but mostly driving offences, and was detained in 2015 when his visa was cancelled on grounds of having bad character.
There was no direct witness to the fight in Villawood, but the findings say it was likely it involved Mr Peihopa and at least one other detainee, the fight was away from security cameras, and went on for some time but resulted in superficial injuries only.
Serco said Mr Peihopa collapsed in a "blind spot" but the coroner rejected this, saying he fell down in full view of the guardhouse and security cameras straight afterwards, but guards did not get to him for 17 minutes, though other detainees were trying to lift him up.
The coroner said this was probably because, with two guards managing 60 detainees in that unit, they were "spread too thin".
Mr Peihopa's mother said nobody supervising her son "had the slightest understanding about what is required to supervise and care for the health and welfare of detainees".
The New Zealand Labour Party has made similar claims before and, then Opposition leader Andrew Little got a lot of media coverage when he visited Villawood two years ago.
He said at the time nobody from the New Zealand Government was taking any action to make sure detainees were being treated properly.
Last night, Mr Little's office said as these issues occurred offshore, it did not expect Mr Little had ministerial responsibility.
In the hours after the death, when the Peihopa family said they feared foul play, Australia's Immigration Department told RNZ and other media that it had confirmed there were "no disturbances" at the centre the night before.
But the coroner said it had no basis to say this because it had not checked out reports of a fight.
The Department in a statement last night accepted the coroner's recommendations and had taken measures over illegal drugs. It continued to "work closely" with Serco to care for and keep safe detainees, staff and visitors.
It expressed its condolences to family and friends. The department did not apologise to the Peihopa family.
