David Mitchell writes in the London Observer in a paean to the private sector, a bunch of caring individuals who just want the rest of us to enjoy better and more efficient services: The private sector is amazing, isn’t it? It’s easily the best sector. Apart from the voluntary sector, of course, which is inspiring…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Should society be promoting privatised education?
In my view, no damn way. Making a huge profit from rich students who buy their way into a system where learning comes second to scoring that corporate job after completion is troubling. Of course, many publicly run universities are sadly moving in a similar direction these days: A private, run-for-profit university has launched an…
Some question and answers about responsibility of writers
Following my essay in the latest edition of literary journal Overland on cultural boycotts, politics, Palestine and Sri Lanka, the magazine interviewed me on various matters: Passionate and outspoken about Israel/Palestine, among other things, Antony Loewenstein is a freelance independent journalist based in Sydney. Author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution, he is…
What privatised war does to ethics; render them irrelevant
Evidence for the prosecution: In December 2008, South Asian workers, two thousand miles or more from their homes, staged a protest on the outskirts of Baghdad. The reason: Up to 1,000 of them had been confined in a windowless warehouse and other dismal living quarters without money or work for as long as three months.…
Privatised services ignore duty of care and yet governments love them
Clare Sambrook reminds us of a tragic story in Australia that should provide a salutary warning to governments desperate for privatised “efficiency”: Last week in Western Australia, Graham Powell and Nina Stokoe, two former private security guards, pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the death of renowned Aboriginal elder Mr Ward, cooked to death…
Your Iraq war is soon to be even more privatised for freedom
Wars are increasingly about profit and have nothing to do with freedom or liberation or human rights: The State Department is preparing to spend close to $3 billion to hire a security force to protect diplomats in Iraq after the U.S. pulls its last troops out of the country by year’s end. In testimony Monday…
Making a forture in war-ravaged Iraq
Who said the Iraqis were loving being “liberated”? The multinational corporations are making a killing: As Congress launches… a bipartisan PR campaign to stay in Iraq forever, the White House throws… a corporate looting party FIRST LOOK: WALL STREET IN IRAQ? – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Deputy Secretary Tom Nides (formerly chief administrative officer at…
Serco using imported labour to oppress refugees in Australia
This is what privatisation does; forces corporations to manage situations without accountability or care to the human beings in the situation: Dozens of foreign workers have been shipped to Australia to work at immigration detention centres. Serco has imported 58 staff members, most from England, to staff detention centres it charges hundreds of millions of…
How Serco thrives by failing constantly
Australia’s immigration detention system is in chaos and yet the company running them, Serco, is about to be rewarded. Again. The perverse logic of privatisation: The federal government is believed to have signed a contract to outsource the management of defence base operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan to the foreign company running Australia’s…
It’s official; Australian government happy for Serco to do what it pleases
The glories of unaccountable privatisation in action (via New Matilda): Not only is the $1 billion contract awarded to detention centre operator Serco beyond the reach of public scrutiny, but Senate Estimates hearings today revealed that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship collects scant data on breaches and has limited knowledge and oversight of staff…