I appeared last night on ABCTV News24’s The Drum (video here). The Federal government is introducing its carbon tax legislation into the parliament and yet I argued it’s legitimate to ask why so many polluters are receiving such concessions. It’s an attempted political fix that hasn’t convinced many Australians. Simply put, many people are skeptical…
Showing all posts tagged Serco
Cluey firms making good money from Australian government’s privatisation obsession
The Canberra Times reveals who is making a killing, largely invisible in the public domain and likely to only make more money in the years ahead; privatisation is a bi-partisan disease: Detention centre operators, an international training company, a NSW Government department and a multinational IT firm are the big winners from the Federal Government’s…
Voices rising against Serco’s power
Very few journalists in the corporate press seem interested in the ever-expanding role of unaccountable Serco, the British multinational. Privatisation is accepted as gospel by both major sides of politics and the mainstream media. To its credit, Green Left Weekly publishes today the following important part of the story: British-based multinational corporation Serco Group is…
Who really wants Serco to remain in Australia? Not the people
With so many unanswered questions, privatisation is not the way forward for helping people. But then again, that’s not the point, is it? It’s about profit above humanity: The private company that runs the Christmas Island detention centre should be stripped of its contract, and control of the network returned to the Commonwealth, says the…
With Serco in charge, abuses are guaranteed
Another day and another serious allegation: A former Serco employee at Curtin Detention Centre says treatment of detainees by some staff members was “outrageously brutal” and they were bullied constantly. Seven asylum seekers were flown from Curtin and put in isolation on Christmas Island on Tuesday night because of increased tensions at the remote centre,…
Who really run immigration detention in Australia? Unaccountable Serco, that’s who
The kind of story that is happening every day around the country: Three asylum seekers were denied appointments at Broome Hospital and returned to Curtin Detention Centre after speaking to a member of the public in the waiting room. The news comes amid reports that seven asylum seekers were flown to Christmas Island from Curtin…
Having opinions about immigration detention isn’t acceptable
The message here is that privatised care enforces strict bounds of discussion, and honesty isn’t part of the equation: A mental health nurse was sacked from a job in a Darwin detention centre for voicing her opinion on the detention system. A termination letter says the worker, who wished to stay anonymous, was fired because…
Evidence emerging of dysfunctional relations between Serco and Aussie officials
Who is held accountable for these breaches? Who wrote the words of the contract allowing no public scrutiny? And most importantly, something rarely asked by our media, why are private companies making a profit from managing human misery? The full extent of despair and unrest inside the immigration detention network has been revealed, with documents…
Not the best advertisement for Serco in New Zealand
Mmm: Auckland’s Mt Eden prison operator Serco has been accused of bribing inmates with bigger helpings of food and televisions in their cells to encourage them to behave. The prison officers’ union, the Corrections Association, said that in addition to larger meals, Serco served dessert every night, unheard of in the State prison system, Radio…
Deaths in Serco’s care and yet the company still thrives
What exactly will it take for Western governments to realise that the profit motive is the worst argument for outsourcing essential human services? Separate investigations into three deaths in immigration removal centres (IRC) in the past month have been launched by the police, amid growing concern about the treatment of detainees. The spate of deaths…