The details of the Australian immigration system are often kept secret, not least the activities of British multinational Serco running the detention facilities. The Australian’s Paige Taylor is that rare mainstream journalist who has been pursuing the story for years. Her feature in yesterday’s paper documented the absurd restrictions on finding out accurate information on…
Category General
Codifying secrecy as a way of doing business, thanks to Obama
In case anybody still had any illusions about the obsession of the Obama administration to pursue whistle-blowers or anybody who seriously embarrasses them, read on (via the Wall Street Journal): The U.S. government has obtained a controversial type of secret court order to force GoogleInc. and small Internet provider Sonic.net Inc. to turn over information…
Don’t trust Serco and friends to manage asylum seekers in Australia
Under-trained. Under-staffed. Traumatised. And that’s just the employees of disaster capitalist companies, loved by governments, to add “efficiency” to a straining refugee system. Paige Taylor reports in today’s Australian: An English backpacker on a tourist visa, Australians straight from high school and overseas students are among hundreds of casual workers earning up to $450 a…
The out of control drone future
So this is where our supposed civilised world is heading. A disturbing piece in the weekend’s New York Times: At the Zhuhai air show in southeastern China last November, Chinese companies startled some Americans by unveiling 25 different models of remotely controlled aircraft and showing video animation of a missile-armed drone taking out an armored…
As Chevron has destroyed the Amazon, now firm gets access in Australia
The development and exploitation of natural resources by corporates is on the march globally. Take the proposed gas hub in the Kimberely in Western Australia. Governments are usually far too keen to please corporations, with locals and environmental concerns largely ignored. Chevron recently announced a massive LNG project off the Western Australian coast. Such moves…
Legacy of Tamil Tigers still resonate
Renouncing terrorism as part of a national liberation struggle is a complex business, either done for pragmatic reasons or genuine remorse. Whatever the reason, Tamils in Sri Lanka remain deeply oppressed: Five years after they were caught buying arms for Sri Lankan rebels, three Canadians have signed an open letter from prison acknowledging they were…
Assange speaks in London at ten year anniversary of Afghan war squalor
When we understand that wars come about as a result of lies, peddled to the British public and the American public and public all over Europe and other countries, then who are the war criminals? It is not just leaders, it is not just soldiers, it is journalists, journalists are war criminals. And Assange, interviewed…
