Wednesday 15 January 2014

Scott Morrison and Serco Australia Pty Ltd


Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison and his department have responsibility for immigration detention centres.
UK based Serco Group Pty Ltd through its subsidiary Serco Australia Pty Limited has been contracted by the Australian Government to operate the detention centres.

Serco Australia’s principal shareholders are listed in its 2012 Annual Report as:


This is what Serco says of itself:


Serco Australia has been in the news recently due to its alleged penny pinching ways with regard to supplying sanitary pads/tampons to female detainees, an allegation of rape at its Christmas Island detention centre, complaints about poor security at Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, dehumanising detainees by using numbers instead of names and making Curtin detainees jump through hoops to access phone calls and then restricting their ability to do so, denying them access to scanning facilities and instituting a complete blackout of Australian television stations.

It is also alleged that it has been price gouging under a contract it has to transport West Australian prisoners and, in 2013 admitted to inappropriate sexual contact between a male guard and female detainee.

Serco Australia’s British parent company is also under fire for the supply of inadequate asylum seeker housing services, and been ordered to repay £68.5m of taxpayers' money after being found to be overcharging for prisoner tagging.

One has to wonder why Morrison and his department continue to support this private company.

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