Serco and a privatized system in crises

So another privatized detention centre burns. Only weeks after the Christmas Island detention centres erupted in protests, riots and fires, the unrest has spread to Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre.

Former staff of Serco, the UK multinational corporation that runs the privatized detention centres, are already pointing the finger directly at the corporation, claiming that it contributed to the crises. Serco whistle blowers claim that at Villawood (like Christmas Island), Serco's incompetence and mismanagement were a primary cause of the riots.

The whitleblower claims that:

• Serco management threw raw and untrained recruits into the detention centre without proper training
• Training courses for new staff were dropped
• Serco staff lack basic training and are forced to learn "on the job" 
• Serco management constantly understaff the centre
• Serco has no effective emergency management procedures for such events.

These are precisely the claims made against Serco at Christmas Island; claims that are now the subject of multiple investigations into Serco's management of the Christmas Island Centres, and it looks likely that the investigations will be extended to include Serco's management of Villawood.

The ABC reports that:

The detention centre was set on fire, while asylum seekers overwhelmed staff from the detention centre service provider, Serco.

The former guard says there would have been 11 staff members rostered on the night the asylum seekers rioted. 

He says his former employer, Serco, does not train staff properly and would not have known what to do when trouble starts. 

"From what I've seen, new recruits are basically put on the floor with no training whatsoever," he said. 

"They were told that they would be trained as they worked and that also has never happened before. Basically what is supposed to happen is, they go through at least a six-week minimum course and then have a year of on-the-job training. 

"Serco basically got rid of the six-week course using staffing levels as an excuse and basically threw the staff onto the floor and expected experienced staff to train them as well as do their normal jobs."

He says Serco has never emphasised emergency response training for incidents like fire and riots experienced on Wednesday night. 

"I am led to believe they still don't have any real effective emergency operational procedures. So basically (Wednesday night) would have been every man for themselves," he said.

In a statement, Serco acknowledged an increased number of arrivals and longer periods of detention have placed significant pressures on their operations. 

The company said its staff training program meets it contractual requirements and that it has provided additional training beyond what is contracted and has invested $1.5 million in staff training.

This is the second Australian immigration detention to be set on fire this year. Riots at the Christmas Island detention centre in March led to tear gas and bean bag rounds being fired at asylum seekers.

The former Villawood guard says the Federal Government should review Serco's contract. 

"They've had pretty poor performance. Basically the spate of incidents, major incidents, under Serco's control have been ... there's just been too many. So I really think that the contract should be reassessed," he said.

Antony Martin Fernando: A truly great Australian

Australian Aboriginal activist and human rights campaigner Anthony Martin Fernando died unknown, penniless and forgotten in a London nursing home in 1949.  For thirty years Fernando had single handedly campaigned in Europe and the UK to publicize the cause of Aboriginal people and protest against Australian and British colonial domination of Aboriginal people.

I have written before about his remarkable life (here and here) which features in the touring exhibition about Aboriginal activism and Aboriginal activists From Little Things Big Things Grow which is currently touring the country (The exhibition will be in Perth later this year).

The ABC Radio National's social history program Hindsight had this program today (February 3rd) about the life and legacy of Antony Martin Fernando.

The story of the extraordinary international career of the Aboriginal rights activist Anthony Martin Fernando, who is slowly emerging from the shadows 60 years after his death.
He was an Aboriginal man who pinned toy skeletons to his overcoat and picketed Australia House in London in the 1920s. He tried to petition the Pope and was accused of being a German spy.

Fernando was born in Sydney in 1864, the son of an Aboriginal mother, his 'guiding star' from whom he was separated as a child. He claimed to have been brought up in the home of a white family who denied him an education and treated him like a pet. He complained bitterly about the mission system, describing its settlements as 'murderhouses' -- instead proposing that an Aboriginal state be established in Australia's north, free from British and Australian interference, under the mandate of a neutral power.

Even though Fernando is relatively unknown, he has a mythology. This program explores the documentary evidence of his random but constant political activity -- from letters he wrote, to newspaper reports and secret communiques between British and Australian authorities.

As far as historians can ascertain, Fernando was driven into self-imposed exile in the early 1900s, after being excluded from giving evidence in the trial of white men accused of the murder of Aboriginal people. He believed the only way to secure justice for his people was to go to Europe. There he believed he might confront the British, whom he accused -- through the Australian Government -- of 'systematically exterminating' Indigenous people.

A religious man who could quote tracts of the Bible, he believed that God had entrusted him with a mission to save Aboriginal people from the colonial system that oppressed them.

ABC's 4 Corners program on the dirty business of coal mining

Thanks goodness for the ABC's 4 Corners program. It continues to undertake essential investigative journalism, often shining the light on the murky world of corporate and government power in Australia.

Monday night's program "A Dirty Business" sheds light on the appalling silence and inaction by the NSW Government and the mining and power generation industries about the negative health and social consequences of their activities in the Upper Hunter Valley. Andrew Fowler's report asks whether emissions from coal mining and power generation are the cause of serious illness including serious respiratory problems, nervous system diseases, cardiovascular disease and liver disorders.

Andrew Fowler's report documents and describes what many in WA know well- the real social, human and environmental costs of this country's mining economy. What the program demonstrates once again, is the complete and utter disregard that governments and the mining and resources industry have for the the social harms the industry causes.

The desire of governments for mining royalties and of mining companies for massive profits overrides any other consideration, even people's health.

Ruby Hunter interview on ABC Radio National 's Late Night Live

On Radio National Late Night Live tonight (Monday February 22nd) Phillip Adams has replayed an interview he did with Ruby Hunter in May 2006. What an amazing story, what an amazing women. Such a distinctively Australian voice. Deeply missed. Earlier blog pieces on Ruby Hunter, who died last week, can be read here and here

Music of quality on ABC Radio National

ABC Radio National continues to deliver music programs of high quality over the summer period.

The new album by British folk guitarist and singer songwriter Martin Simpson titled True Stories featured on a recent edition of the The Weekend Planet, the music program hosted by Doug Spencer on ABC Radio National each Saturday and Sunday night (10.00pm-midnight). I have written previously about the quality and beauty of Martin Simpson's musical craftsmanship.

This edition of the Weekend Planet is one of the best in 2009 and in addition to Martin Simpson, there is music by Richard Thompson, Linda Thompson, Australian jazz musician Ian Chaplin, jazz legends Clifford Brown and Martin Taylor and a host of other Australian jazz musicians. There is also magnificent Scottish air- Dancing with George- played by Australian fiddler Catherine Fraser and pianist Duncan Smith. You can listen through audio on demand here.

The sister (or brother) program to the Weekend Planet is the Daily Planet which can be heard each week day between 11pm to midnight pm and then repeated at 2-3pm the next day.

Martin Simpson's new album features the revered English double bassist Danny Thompson who recently featured in another excellent ABC Radio National music program Into the Music which is always worth a listen.