Serco wants to hide its behaviour from us all

This move has all the hallmarks of attempting to keep real people out of the media spotlight. Humanising refugees is the last thing this government and Serco wants:

The company running the country’s immigration detention centres has upgraded how seriously it takes the unauthorised presence of media, putting it on par with a bomb threat or an escape.

The Serco document says “unauthorised” media presence at a detention centre is now considered “critical” – the highest possible threat level.

There has been an intense focus on the detention system over recent months after a number of protests and riots.

The Government says it is a serious issue if the media tries to gain unauthorised entry to a detention centre.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says it is important that people’s asylum claims are not compromised and they not be filmed.

He says the heightened alert is a matter for Serco.

“There is a media protocol in detention centres, and on those very rare occasions that media do not say they are media or attempt to gain unauthorised entry, that is a serious matter,” Mr Bowen said.

The Immigration Department says new classifications for incidents within detention centres only relate to how they are reported to the Government.

A department spokesman says the document only deals with the timeframe for reporting issues to the Government and has no bearing on how they are dealt with.

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