The US private prison company running Australian immigration detention centres was slapped with penalties by the Australian government after allowing a dozen escapes, but the head of the Australian Border Force has declined to reveal the cost of the punishment.

Greens senator David Shoebridge was scathing of what he called “a disturbing set of reports” about private prison company MTC and its local subsidiary Secure Journeys, revealed in a Guardian Australia investigation this week.

In a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday, the home affairs department confirmed MTC’s US director was summoned for a meeting with the government after a series of catastrophic security failures, including the escape of high-risk detainees and the stabbing and hospitalisation of staff.

But the ABF commissioner, Gavan Reynolds, said he wouldn’t provide details of the financial penalties issued to Secure Journeys, despite confirming there had been “charge events” (fines) after 12 separate escapes from facilities run by MTC since May last year.

“I have received legal advice that, because of the commercial-in-confidence nature of the contract, I cannot publicly discuss the quanta of that charge event,” Reynolds told Senate estimates.

MTC signed a $2.3bn contract to run Australia’s onshore immigration detention network from early 2025.

Guardian Australia revealed serious incidents including detainees missing medical appointments because MTC lacks the staff to escort them to health centres, two MTC staff members being admitted to hospital with smoke inhalation after trying to rescue an unconscious detainee from a fire, more than 12 escapes from MTC facilities (several during transport and escort operations), and a risk assessment system federal work safety regulator Comcare warned was putting staff at serious risk of violence.

The investigation also revealed that in September 2025, just six months after MTC assumed control of onshore detention, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, was forced to haul in the company’s president from the US to dress him down in a secret face-to-face meeting.

The home affairs secretary, Stephanie Foster, confirmed details of the meeting, under questioning from Shoebridge, saying the meeting was “to ensure Secure Journeys understood how seriously we took their requirement to meet the terms of their arrangements with us”.

Foster said the meeting ended with “a commitment we would continue to work together and Secure Journeys would do everything in their power to meet the requirements of their contract with us”.

Shoebridge questioned why the amount Secure Journeys had been fined could not be revealed to the public.

“Sorry, how on Earth would that cause anything other than perhaps embarrassment to home affairs, because it’s so small, or embarrassment to Secure Journeys because it’s so large? Where is the commercial interest you’re protecting here?” the senator asked.

Reynolds said he would seek legal advice about whether he could provide that number in an answer to questions on notice.

Guardian Australia also revealed that Secure Journeys staff, on 23 September 2025, had responded to a fire in a locked room at Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. Investigators found MTC had not given the staff basic respiratory equipment and fire-response training six months after assuming control of the centre.

Reynolds said a detainee had locked themselves in the room and started the fire and said he and the department “have concerns for the staff when it comes to detainees lighting fires”.

“We have done a lot of work with Secure Journeys to ensure that staff are adequately trained to deal with that situation and have the adequate equipment to do so,” he said.

Guardian Australia revealed that one internal government investigation warned that MTC’s “minimalist staffing model” was putting workers and detainees at risk.

A departmental source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the situation was a “sinking ship”, with the company’s tenure “marked by chaos, incompetence and a lack of capability”.

“How no Secure Journeys staff member or detainee hasn’t died yet from systemic incompetence is sheer luck,” they said.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said Guardian Australia’s revelations “lifts the lid on a system in crisis”.

“Too few staff, inadequate equipment and training, inadequate protocols for handling potentially dangerous detainees, the list goes on,” Wilkie said. “Clearly it’s just a matter of time before someone is gravely injured or dies. It’s also a gross misuse of public funding.”

The deputy chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Jana Favero, said the centre has heard shocking reports from people inside detention “about deteriorating conditions, poor communication, and risky, unsafe practices”, including detainees missing critical medical appointments due to staffing issues.

“These reports raise serious questions about how a contract worth $2.3bn to taxpayers is being managed,” she said.

“Australians would reasonably expect that this level of spending would ensure safe conditions, properly trained staff, adequate medical access and basic standards of dignity and care.”

ABF said immigration detention was “a complex operating environment”, and that the “welfare, safety and dignity of people in immigration detention, as well as the safety of staff” were its highest priorities.

An MTC Secure Journeys spokesperson said the company “takes the health, safety, and wellbeing of our people seriously”.

“We have established systems, training and support arrangements in place to help staff perform their duties safely, including initial role-based training and ongoing refresher training to support currency of knowledge, safe work practices, and operational readiness.

“We continue to review and strengthen these arrangements as part of our ongoing commitment to safe operations.”