A privatised future that gives us all a chill, writes Zoe Williams in the Guardian: It is pointless at this stage to pretend to be surprised that charities are facing …£100m worth of cuts to their local authority funding, although it is ironic that the sector most flattered by “big society” rhetoric should be the…
Showing all posts tagged Serco
Questioning the Serco allure
We read staff of British multinational Serco are suing for excessive suffering in Australia: The federal government is facing a new multi-million-dollar litigation threat from dozens of ex-detention centre officers, citing psychiatric harm suffered at the centres. University of NSW psychiatry expert Dr Zachary Steel said several such cases were pending in courts around the…
Is Serco really able to handle Australia’s asylum seeker trauma?
Thankfully and finally, Australia’s Ombudsmen will be investigating the high rate of self harm in immigration detention and the role, responsibility and actions of British multinational Serco. But, according to this report in today’s Australian by Paige Taylor, the contractor has little understanding of the conditions under which refugees find themselves (and where the government…
Feeling sorry for Serco?
British multinational Serco, the company that runs Australia’s immigration detention centres, is facing constant fines from the government. A story in yesterday’s Australian (headlined in the paper edition, “Breaches sending detention firm bust”, which is completely untrue) shows the dysfunctional nature of the relationship between contractor and government. No transparency exists: The company running Australia’s…
Serco damages worker’s lives but government wants more privatised staff
Two stories today that highlight the pernicious effect of British multinational Serco in Australia. One from today’s Australian (to its credit, the only serious newspaper tackling this question regularly): The company running Australia’s immigration detention centres has acknowledged the work is traumatic for staff following the death of a young guard troubled by the hanging…
Serco begins PR push to win even more privatised business
Not that most governments seemingly need more convincing to make services more “efficient” (which is code for a lack of accountability): Serco, the multinational company that makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year running outsourced government services, will today launch an advertising campaign aimed at boosting its public image in WA as it prepares…
Is there any space where Serco won’t go?
Clearly not (and the Australian government is so desperate to “manage” asylum seekers, any multinational will do): Australia’s newest immigration detention centre could open near Brisbane within months as the Federal Government negotiates to take over the Borallon jail. The Courier-Mail understands the Federal Government plans to convert the high-security jail, 50km west of Brisbane,…
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…