The privatisation of war is an ugly business, pushed by governments keen to pursue a “war on terror” with no end in sight and virtually no accountability: The CIA is implicated in a court case in which it’s claimed it used an illegal, inaccurate software “hack” to direct secret assassination drones in central Asia. The…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Mental health cure isn’t available with a pill
My following book review appeared in yesterday’s Sydney Sun Herald: Crazy Like Us Ethan Watters Scribe, $35 About one in five adult Australians will experience mental illness at some point. In the US, about 27 per cent of people aged 18 and older suffer from a mental disorder each year. These are startling figures that…
Selling every public asset isn’t a pretty prospect
Praying to the privatisation religion is a global trend, largely unquestioned and hopelessly mixed in result. Here’s the latest debate in New York city: In the face of drastic cuts in the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s bus service, the Bloomberg administration recently decided to allow private vans to carry passengers along several routes in Brooklyn and…
Finally, some light on Serco but so much more needed
At last, some coverage in the Australian media about Serco, the British multinational running the country’s detention centres. It doesn’t offer much new – and there is a desperate need for a thorough examination of the real relationship between Serco and the government – so more, please: On Monday before the 36-year-old Fijian Josefa Rauluni…
So this is why we pay Serco so much
Need more evidence how dysfunctional and undemocratic is the relationship between Serco and the Australian government? Detainees who protested on the roof of a Sydney detention centre this week have been put in maximum security isolation as punishment, a refugee advocate says. Nine Chinese nationals, including five men and four women, one of whom is…
Scahill on Blackwater madness under God and country
U.S. Businessman: Blackwater Paid Me to Buy Steroids and Weapons on Black Market for Its Shooters. Seriously.
America wants faceless men to kill its enemies
The largely secret war now being fought by unaccountable private firms. This is how the West fights battles: More private contractors than soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent months, the first time in history that corporate casualties have outweighed military losses on America’s battlefields. More than 250 civilians working under U.S. contracts…
International SOS just here to help refugees
Villawood detention centre in Sydney, run by Serco, remains deeply on edge. Much is outsourced, including the provision of health services, by International SOS. And here’s a job description from the company: Mental Health Nurse – Villawood Location: Sydney Job Code: JRMHNV # of openings: 1 Description THE COMPANY International Health & Medical Services is…
Serco love and respect everybody, says Australian government
Here’s Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor, defending the reputation of the firm running Australia’s detention centres: Serco has a long-standing interest in this area. It manages other centres and indeed it employs dedicated staff that have the skills to deal with these situations.
Private contractor Serco escapes scrutiny in the detention debate
My following piece appears today in Crikey: I visited Villawood on Sunday”‰—”‰alongside a delegation of union leaders and Greens Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon”‰—”‰and met several asylum seekers subsequently involved in the protest that ended peacefully last night with the arrival of UNHCR officials. We spent hours conversing with men in their 20s and up from Iraq,…