Civil engineering firm Canstruct to take over operating Nauru detention centre

An Australian civil engineering firm will take over operations of the Nauru immigration detention centre from Broadspectrum.

Human rights groups have accused the firm of taking up a “poisoned chalice” by involving itself with Australia’s internationally criticised offshore processing regime.

The six-month contract to provide welfare and garrison services is worth more than $8m and was awarded to Canstruct International by the Australian federal government.

A leaked letter from Canstruct’s chief executive, Rory Murphy, said the company had received a formal letter of intent from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, confirming the transition of services from Broadspectrum on 1 November.

Murphy’s letter, obtained by the No Business in Abuse campaign, said the company had been working on Nauru since 2012, largely on construction and infrastructure projects. Current staff would be retained and moved on to new but identical contracts, he said.

Canstruct does not appear to have any prior experience running welfare services, but Guardian Australia understands current employees and systems will remain in place.

Questions about how it expects the company will manage welfare services were referred to the Department of Immigration.

Keren Adams, director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said there was “no ethical way” for a company to run the offshore centres.

“If it goes ahead with this contract, Canstruct will be complicit in an intentionally abusive system, in direct contravention of its human rights obligations and will be exposing itself to serious legal and reputational liability,” said Adams.

“Companies like G4S and Broadspectrum have already faced years of litigation as a result of their involvement in Australia’s detention regime, resulting in a $70m payout [by the Australian government] earlier this year to current and former asylum seekers held on Manus.”

Amnesty International labeled it a “toxic contract”.

“The company will provide the very services that sustain a system that keeps women, men and children trapped in a cycle of cruelty and desperation,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s director of global issues.

“Broadspectrum and Ferrovial have made millions from the suffering of people fleeing persecution. Canstruct needs to ask itself if it really wants to be the next company to become complicit in the Australian government’s illegal policies, and if it’s willing to expose itself to legal liability for being complicit in this system – as Broadspectrum and Ferrovial already have.”

GetUp’s Shen Narayanasamy flagged the activist group would likely target the company in future campaigns.

“The Nauru detention centre has been found to be a human rights catastrophe where women have been assaulted and children abused. Canstruct will now not only be responsible for doing business in abuse, but will face a mighty campaign from thousands of Australians to whom the imprisonment and abuse of men, women and children is a disgrace,” she said.

The previous contract holder, Broadspectrum – formerly known as Transfield Services – and its Spanish multinational owner, Ferrovial, faced sustained criticism and campaigns over the conditions of the Nauru and Manus Island centres, and the treatment of detainees within them.

In April last year Ferrovial announced it was abandoning its work in offshore detention. It had intended to leave in February of this year but the Australian government unilaterally exercised its option to extend the contract for another eight months to the end of October.

Also last year, the refugee support agency Connect Settlement Services announced it would not retender for its contract beyond last December, telling employees the services required on Nauru were beyond its capabilities. Broadspectrum took over in the interim.

About 370 people still reside in the immigration centre on Nauru, with several hundred others living outside in the Nauruan community. However that residential population could increase, after refugees on Manus Island were told they could apply to be transferred to Nauru.

The Department of Immigration has been contacted with questions.