The idea of providing arms and support to the “rebels” in Libya shows a West with no historical memory. Remember Afghanistan in the 1980s? Now we learn that a privatised force is being considered: Private contractors could be sent by the US to Libya to help rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi under plans being considered in…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Hands up who wants more nuclear material travelling through Australia?
Sure, Australia already sells the stuff to countless nations around the world but are there any limits to what privatised companies will be allowed to do here? Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam has slammed provocative plans by Canadian uranium mining company Cameco to truck uranium through several WA cities and towns. The…
Canberra should ditch Serco and offer support for people not firms
This is what Australia has created. A militarised and privatised system to house asylum seekers. Christmas Island remains in a state of heightened tension. The Australian offers a little more information about the state of dysfunction between the federal government and British multinational Serco: While private security firm Serco has come under scrutiny for understaffing…
This is what Australians pay for; detention centres with gross abuses
Shameful: In October 2010 ChilOut was told – women at the ASTI have been waiting 6 months for… knickers- yes underwear. Many women had only one pair of pants – the one they came off the boat wearing. Many times advocates asked – why can’t you walk them 5 minutes down the road to the…
Memo to reporters in Australia; refugees are already being smeared and abused
Here’s how the Australian media sometimes report on asylum seekers. There’s no doubt that the country’s refugee policy is out of control, privatised forces (namely Serco) run the system with few checks or balances and journalists often simply ignore the bigger picture but can sensitivity towards vulnerable people not be ignored? Asylum seekers awaiting processing…
How much Australian aid is privatised and hidden?
This is a good story in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph that outlines the gross waste of Australian aid across the world. Accountability is the least we can expect. What needs to be further examined – something I’m researching – is which private companies here and overseas are scamming the system: Australia’s $4.5 billion foreign aid program…
Will Serco be continually rewarded for failure?
The ongoing chaos at Christmas Island – with refugees, guards and citizens all being led astray by the Australian government and Serco – is a blight on our conscience. We treat asylum seekers like animals, lock them up indefinitely, and wonder why their resist? As they should. Last night Immigration Minister Chris Bowen appeared on…
Making serious money from “security” is way of the future
Private security firms are now global entities, turning up in the strangest of places. G4S recently announced it was allegedly pulling out of Palestine due to pressure from pro-Palestinian activists. Its record with refugees in Britain is highly troubling. Next stop for G4S? More government contracts, of course: Organisers of the 2012 Olympic games have…
Australian media finally starts to examine Serco
Well, it’s only taken a few years to seriously wonder how a British multinational, paid hundreds of millions annually, is so incompetently mismanaging immigration detention centres around Australia and Canberra is now paying them to build more facilities in remote locations. The glories of privatisation. Can we now have a discussion about placing these semi-prisons…
Media finally waking to Serco’s daily failures
Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre is in turmoil and controller of the place Serco is woefully incapable of running it. Might we finally see some questions about the privatisation of asylum seekers? Interesting information from yesterday’s Crikey: I’m currently on Christmas Island. I have just been speaking with a photojournalist who has been staking out…