Serco Hires Untrained Guards

[Matilda]

Serco security guards in immigration detention centres are not required to hold any formal security qualifications for six months, according to its contract with the Immigration Department (DIAC).

The contract, obtained under a Freedom of Information request, reveals that the agreement between Serco and the Immigration Department only requires security guards to "obtain a Certificate Level II in Security Operations within six months of commencement".

A Certificate II is the minimum security requirement for unarmed security guards, and many training organisations fit the entire course into just five days.

In the recent parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s immigration detention network this issue was raised repeatedly and DIAC officials refused to clearly answer questions about the qualifications of security guards at detention centres operated by Serco.

http://newmatilda.com/2011/11/09/serco-hires-untrained-guards


This is big news on the Twitterverse in Oz, and so it should be. I don't believe that any kind of prison or holding facility should ever be run privately or for profit, but should always be government-run and therefore open to scrutiny. And I'm deeply ashamed that a Labor Government should be treating asylum seekers in such an inhumane and insensitive way, every bit as cruel as Howard ever was.