Villawood detainees in April 2011. Photo from SBS and AAP.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has sent letters to Australian Government Ministers after journalists raised concerns about gaining access to Australian immigration detention centres.

Alliance members have complained about requests for access being routinely denied and the banning of television cameras from facilities.

The MEAA says the private contractor running some detention centres, Serco, “now includes the unauthorised presence of journalists in its list of “critical” threats.”

The ABC recently published a report regarding the death of 41-year-old detainee, Ahmed Al Akabi, at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre.

I spoke with the journalists – Joel Keep and Alexandra Vaughan – about their experience with gaining access to the centre and reporting Mr Akabi’s story.