Who says that Australia’s immigration detention chaos isn’t a perfect opportunity for a privatised firm to make a fortune? The Daily Telegraph reports yesterday: An asylum seeker boom will generate an astonishing $1 billion-plus taxpayer-funded bonanza for the controversial foreign conglomerate that runs Australia’s detention centres. Serco originally signed a five-year contract worth $370 million…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
Supporting Palestinian rights makes you “anti-Israel”
This weekend I’m speaking at the Sydney Palestine conference organised by the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine. I’m talking about the Arab revolutions and their effect on Palestine, the myopic Australian Jewish community and the media’s inability to speak honestly about Palestinians (I’m looking at you, Murdoch press, who seem to believe that…
Palestinian rights barely exist for Australian politicians
It takes a certain kind of chutzpah for corporatised leaders to continue praising “democratic” Israel. Today in the Australian parliament the following was put on the record. Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Liberal Senator Eric Abetz): To move—That the Senate— (a) notes: (i) its decision on 23 March 2011 to acknowledge that Israel…
Reminding the establishment why Wikileaks enables us all
Last night in Britain Julian Assange won the Sydney Peace Foundation award for his commitment to democracy and human rights: Video streaming by Ustream
How did Serco end up convincing Australian government of its brilliance?
Peter Chambers gives a convincing argument: By all accounts, Serco probably was the least worst choice; what we are dealing with here is the political equivalent of Steven Bradbury’s win in the 2002 Winter Olympics. It’s not so much that Serco won the contract, it’s that there were no other viable contenders. This connects to…
Bin Laden bled US and continues to do so
Asking questions about the Western obsession with Osama Bin Laden brings spluttering from certain areas of the elite class (indeed, so does saying anything against the glorious Zionist state, as a blogger in today’s Murdoch Australian says I’m polluting the ABC with anti-Israel material. Thank God standing up for Palestinians receives this bile). The real…
Governments embrace Serco then wonder why they fail
Another day and yet another example of the British multinational unable to manage the job (and good on the Australian’s Paige Taylor for reporting on this running sore): There are now tensions among guards as well as detainees on Christmas Island. Up to 100 untrained casual detention workers at the centre claim they are doing…
What privatised firms are doing to our drinking water
Fracking is happening in Australia, using highly toxic chemicals to extract coal seam gas. Governments have been enthusiastic backers of the practice with little caution for environmental or health concerns. And now this: For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination…
Imagining an America that doesn’t invade and occupy
This is a moving piece. Written by US journalist Michael Hastings (a friend and colleague) about the real opportunity that should be taken with the death of Osama Bin Laden. An imperial nation that continues to believe it can rule by brute force and invade Muslim nations is delusional: Osama bin Laden’s actions, and our…