A handcuffed immigration detainee was injected with an antipsychotic drug without their consent as they was being forcibly deported by Australian Border Force officers.
“Chemical restraint had been applied to Mx X during the removal process and this was done without Mx X’s consent,” the 20-page report said.
“This case study is an example of where order and security appeared to prevail too easily over dignity, physical wellbeing and fairness; specifically, the care and treatment of Mx X who was considered to be at risk of self-harm.”
The ombudsman said they did not interview Border Force and Serco officers as well as a doctor on board and could not reach the detainee after the deportation.
Instead they relied on incomplete, and at times contradictory, information provided by Home Affairs to compile their report.
The deportation flight was the third involuntary removal attempt for Mx X.
After spending more than five years in immigration detention and exhausting all legal avenues to remain in Australia, the detainee’s visa was cancelled because they was considered a risk to the community.
A department incident report noted that upon boarding the commercial flight, the detainee “became agitated and disruptive.”
After being seated, Mx X told the accompanying officers they had a key in their mouth and intended to swallow it.
Written notes by the doctor indicated they had repeatedly asked the detainee to remove or spit out the key to no avail for about half an hour.
The doctor later injected Mx X with Haloperidol at the insistence of ABF officers who were adamant the detainee would not be removed from the plane.
The ombudsman said this breached the department’s own removal procedures and the detainee should have been taken off the flight.
“The ABF officers and the escort officers had the option to abort the removal rather than resort to the use of chemical restraint,” the report said.
“There is no way to confirm that all possible de-escalation methods and less-restrictive means of restraint were utilised before the administration of chemical restraint.”
After the detainee was chemically restrained and given some water, Mx X’s head drooped on a pillow and half an hour later they spat out the key.
Later in the flight, to lessen the side effects the detainee was experiencing, they were given a sedative and another medication to counter the effects of the Haloperidol, which include involuntary bodily spasms.
The ombudsman raised the alarm that there was no medical handover in the destination country of Mx X, who was likely still under the effects of the drug that can last up to 48 hours.
In her response included in the report, Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster said the removal case has been referred to the department’s chief medical officer for a review due by March 2025.
The Albanese government pushed through laws before parliament rose that allows it to deport non-citizens to unspecified third countries and paying them to accept them.
