The unholy alliance between the Australian government, Serco and Scientology

The shambles that is Australia’s immigration policy. Little transparency, people’s lives are simply something to be managed. By whom? Once again multinational Serco, with a record of abuses across the world, is running the show: A charity that recruits volunteers to run recreational activities at detention centres is on the brink of deregistration for failing…

The ongoing war against public services (all hail the private)

A charming cover that speaks volumes about the obsessive love of privatisation in the corporate media. The cost to people’s lives is irrelevant; it’s all about “efficiency”. Yes: The Economist doesn’t seem to understand that you can’t actually run the public sector exactly like the private sector. You are not meant to and you cannot.…

Serco, we’re watching you

Because Serco’s record remains deeply troubling, it’s no wonder the Australian government continues giving the company millions of dollars. Hello, media? A second inquest into the death of the youngest person to die in custody begins today after a high court battle. Adam Rickwood was just 14 when he died in August 2004. He was…

When will the media stop ignoring Serco?

Here we go again. An article in the mainstream media that discusses the obscene amount of money the Australian government is spending on keeping refugees in detention but no mention of Serco, the British multinational running the detention centres and the company receiving a good bulk of the money: Offshore processing of asylum-seekers is five…

The new frontier; private firms making money in apartheid West Bank

One: The Danish-British security firm G4S recently confirmed in a letter its involvement in the Israeli occupation and violations of international law — reported on last month by The Electronic Intifada. After the publication of The Electronic Intifada’s report on 15 December 2010, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre asked G4S to respond to…

Would you like privatised jail care, man?

Privatised prisons are a growing blight on the Western world. Governments love them because they pass responsibility to somebody else. But when profits come before care, the system is sick: Arnold Porter was serious, and seriously worried. He was dizzy and short of breath, he told Dr. William Sightler, with a crushing, tightening sensation in…

Killing Afghans should not be cost free

This is what can happen to a privatised mercenary in a war zone. Brutal sentence in a tough land but why should we be so shocked? If we believe in accountability, then justice must be served. Allowing foreigners to escape local laws is one of the major reasons so many Iraqis and Afghans hate the…

US: $10k for killed Iraqi civilians

Victor’s justice and an insight into the occupier’s attitude towards “inconveniences” (aka murdered Iraqi civilians courtesy of Blackwater): Just how much is an Iraqi life worth? I don’t know but, in the aftermath of the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater employees at Nisoor Square in September 2007, apparently Iraq and the United States,…

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