#Serco - a thread. Since finding out that Serco not only runs detention centres & prisons, but also call centres for Australian Govt services, such as Centrelink, NDIS and the ATO....I’ve done a bit more research..... 1/8 #auspol

They are absolutely everywhere. They are a UK company now in all parts of the world & they do stuff as diverse as healthcare, prisons, managing ballistic missiles to managing time itself (GMT). Serco seems proud to say ‘we don’t make the policy, we just manage the services’...2/8

This is fascinating for a few reasons. One is that the company CEO is Rupert Soames, a grandson of Winston Churchill. Yes, that same Churchill who successfully prosecuted WW2 against the evil of fascism. That same man.....3/8

....who criticised ‘the Nuremberg defence’. The defence some used after WW2 in answer to war crimes...’they were simply following orders’. It didn’t work then, nor should it. But how different is it to the explanation ‘we don’t make policy, we just manage the services’? 4/8

When we think about our own government policies in relation to UN conventions on asylum seekers, it seems convenient to have a corporation that ‘just runs services’ running those services. Just following orders....5/8

It also seems convenient to have them running social & civil infrastructure. They can lay off ‘casual’ staff when govt changes policy or introduces new obligations. This not only gets stuff done quickly, it also erodes....6/8

...our employment conditions & rights, keeps jobs insecure. This then spins off into housing insecurity, anxiety etc. The contracting out of civil society to any entity that ‘just runs stuff’ reduces us all. This is our basic civil infrastructure that should be conscious....7/8

....& it shouldn’t be sold to a foreign entity. But we need to change too. We must stop wanting things done instantly. It’s this expectation (among others) driving govts to contracts. A contract is signed & someone else has to do it quickly. Our govts can say, we did that. 8/8

Since posting this thread, this excellent & much more comprehensive article about Serco from The Guardian and written by @FNFlanagan was brought to my attention. Do read it. https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/23/public-service-private-contracts-how-serco-was-wired-into-our-future?__twitter_impression=true