The kind of story that is happening every day around the country: Three asylum seekers were denied appointments at Broome Hospital and returned to Curtin Detention Centre after speaking to a member of the public in the waiting room. The news comes amid reports that seven asylum seekers were flown to Christmas Island from Curtin…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Just which privatised forces are helping Libya feel “liberated”?
Very few media outlets are reporting this but I’ve been hearing rumours for months that a privatised force – paid by the US, British and NATO? – are operating with very few if any rules of engagement. Welcome to the future of conflict. The London Independent reports: The Berber rebels in the Nafusa Mountains to…
Should we trust tech companies talking about censoring speech?
The complete lack of transparency with telecommunication firms deciding with the assistance of government if and when calls or web connections should be stopped or censored is highly disturbing. Who wants a faceless firm making such decisions? From yesterday’s UK Observer: After the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and this summer’s looting in England,…
Start a war, privatise everything and watch failure arrive like clockwork
Project on Government Oversight has the news that will brighten the heart of every pro-war advocate who just wants to make a buck from endless conflict: A top government contractor’s failure to meet contractual agreements with the U.S. government put the entire mission of the Afghan National Police (ANP) training program at risk, according to…
Private companies doing rather well in anti-immigration wave moving across world
Disaster capitalists look for ways to make money from misery, crisis or fear. The growing wave of anti-immigration sentiment sweeping the world suits such companies just fine. It’s an area I’m investigating for a forthcoming book and this New York Times piece perfectly captures the mood in Britain; the dangerous nexus between government rhetoric, firms…
Having opinions about immigration detention isn’t acceptable
The message here is that privatised care enforces strict bounds of discussion, and honesty isn’t part of the equation: A mental health nurse was sacked from a job in a Darwin detention centre for voicing her opinion on the detention system. A termination letter says the worker, who wished to stay anonymous, was fired because…
Calling anybody who knows how much US money being paid to insurgents?
No, didn’t think Washington has any real idea: The U.S. military has moved to stem the flow of contract money to Afghan insurgents, awarding at least 20 companies new contracts worth about $1… billion for military supply transport and suspending seven current contractors it found lacking in “integrity and business ethics.” The new contracts, which were…
Naomi Klein on blindly ignoring the Shock Doctrine in Britain
She’s right: Argentina’s mass looting was called El Saqueo—the sacking. That was politically significant because it was the very same word used to describe what that country’s elites had done by selling off the country’s national assets in flagrantly corrupt privatization deals, hiding their money offshore, then passing on the bill to the people with…
Just how are merchants of death supposed to make a good living these days?
Are the good times really coming to an end, or will Western-led wars be increasingly privatised? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry. In the decade…
Evidence emerging of dysfunctional relations between Serco and Aussie officials
Who is held accountable for these breaches? Who wrote the words of the contract allowing no public scrutiny? And most importantly, something rarely asked by our media, why are private companies making a profit from managing human misery? The full extent of despair and unrest inside the immigration detention network has been revealed, with documents…