Exclusive: Serco hires untrained guards in Australia

The following exclusive, written with Paul Farrell, appears today in Australian magazine New Matilda: The Gillard Government’s contract with Serco imposes no initial training requirements for security guards, according to documents obtained under FOI – and that’s causing damage to asylum seekers and to the guards themselves Serco security guards in immigration detention centres are…

Exclusive: no audit requirement for Serco in Australia

The following exclusive, written with Paul Farrell, appears today in Australian magazine New Matilda: Running detention centres is an important job. Why are the audit and reporting requirements for Serco so low? Paul Farrell and Antony Loewenstein report Under the contract signed between Serco and the Department of Immigration (DIAC), which New Matilda has obtained…

Obama’s Middle East words as empty as air

My latest article for New Matilda appears today: The US President is delivering sterner speeches on the Israel Palestine conflict but until he bolsters his rhetoric with action, it’s hard to see how progress can be made, writes Antony Loewenstein Forget about what he actually said. Imagine if US President Barack Obama said something like…

Israel’s choice is clear

My following article appears in today in New Matilda: The deadly attack by Israeli forces on the Gaza relief ships has provoked global outrage, writes Antony Loewenstein. Has Israel bitten off more than it can chew this time? Within hours of Israel’s storming of the Gaza flotilla yesterday in international waters, Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston…

The Jewish Diaspora is turning on Israel

My following article, written with John Docker and Ned Curthoys, appears in New Matilda: It’s not just major western allies who are talking tough with Israel – evidence suggests ordinary Jews are also withdrawing their support from the rogue state Earlier this month the Sydney Morning Herald’s chief correspondent Paul McGeough quizzically asked if there…