How the government profited from detainees’ misery
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A respected Aboriginal elder who died in the back of a non-airconditioned prison van while being transported across the West Australian outback in the middle of summer arrived at hospital drenched in sweat, unconscious and with third-degree burns on his stomach, an inquest has heard. — The Australian To understand how it might be that an Aboriginal man could slowly die in the back of a van driven by GSL guards in 2008, one has only to read this report of another GSL transfer in 2004. Five detainees were placed in an overheated van by force at Maribyrnong Detention Centre and then driven for seven hours to Mildura and then, after an hour break, driven to Baxter detention Centre in Port Augusta. A HREOC report details the horrific conditions and the fact that guards just kept driving despite witnessing the dehydration and distress of their passengers:
The Commonwealth Government was ordered to pay compensation of $15,000 per person plus two extra payments of $10,000. In all a gross amount of $85,000. They did not pay at least two people and probably more because “they do not know their whereabouts”. However yesterday we learnt through the Coronial Inquiry that GSL paid the Government $500,000 compensation for failing to honour their contract obligations (reported on Lateline). If they paid three people their compensation, this still leaves a profit of $455,000. Not bad money to make on the backs of people’s suffering. It seems that there is money to be made in contracting out! Even more chilling is the fact that the abuse which GSL got away with in 2004 and 2005, they continued to practise in 2008 when a man died in the back of a van, a slow painful and horrific death while the guards kept driving — just doing their job! If there is compensation to be paid, how much will the government profit this time, on the back of yet another Aboriginal death in custody? |
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10 Comments
For a tale of willful cruelty, humiliation and lack of any humanit, this must be hard to top. After 16 monthe in Government, the Rudd Government, with Macklin in charge of Aboriginal affairs, continues the egregious policies of John Howard. One could be forgiven for mistaking the situation as that in Afghanistan or Iraq under occupation and subject to `pacification`, but it`s here, under the watchful eye od a democratically elected Labour Government, ostensibly `liberal`, and committed to human rights! We`ll see what the UN has to say about that! But I digress. It appears that not only is virtually every human right is broken by GSL, but they are compensated and make profit on that score! The outcome, if there is any justice, should be that Jenny Macklin is dismissed along with GSL along with any other `security` contractor, employed by this Government, and a thorough revamp or outright elimination of this inhuman system carried out! .
These are truly horrific stories and so sad for those involved and their families. Let’s not pretend there wasn’t a racist element to this. $15K in this day and age ?. Remember-MLeo McCleay got that for falling off his bike.P
Anyone expecting a poltician to show remorse though should think twice. If John Howard can say he sleeps soundly at night after he decided to invade Iraq and was therefore partly responsible for a policy that saw tens of thousand of innocents die or be injured, what hope is there for the others ?.
Yet Bob Hawke demonstrated with his tears for a daughter, the public appreciate honesty and a politician who is prepared to say they aren’t perfect.
Its incomprehensible for a so-called modern nation to hear that last year after our PM apologised for the inhuman treatment of indigenous Australian’s the same practices continued. Nothing is more certain than our leaders speak with forked tongues because they won’t admit every administration is flawed. We read warnings about the deadly impact of cigarettes, alcohol and certain drugs on people but never about how governments similarly contribute to diminished quality of life. In a democratic system fools and fibbers land in parliaments as often as the talented and trained yet parties never advertise their candidates come with no performance assurances. We haven’t prgressed since Hitler if two people died in the care of a state. And I doubt it was just two.
I am not sure that I understand Pamela Curr’s point. The Commonwealth was made liable for the misdeeds of it’s servant (GSL), and demanded and got $500K from GSL as punishment for not honoring their contract.
What exactly is your point - Should the Commonwealth not have fined GSL, or should it not have paid compensation.
The only thing that matters here is that GSL was punished for what amount for gross dereliction of it’s duty of care.
The only cause for complaint would be if the Commonwealth did not ensure that it could never happen again.
I can’t believe this is Australia. What happened to the country during the Howard era and why isn’t the Human Rights Commission taking up the issue with individuals of that government such as Ruddock, Andrews, Vanstone et al? Money doesn’t ‘compensate’ for lost lives, minds or anything else but knowing the architects of the misery are paying a price too is part of the healing process. If everyone involved in this type of bureacratic misery-making gets an albeit painful message our politicians might think twice about their role in people’s lives. We hunt down sharks for causing heartache - why not a politician?
how could anyone, “just keep driving” These people acted unconcionably. “Just doing my job” does not cut it with me. There are a number of other people at varying levels in GSL that have to bear some responsibility for this death. From the drivers who Drove, up to the executives who failed to put in place proceedures to check and maintain vehicles, and procedures to ensure that those things were carried out. This is a dreadful event in this day and age!
the “just following orders” defence - still not working, thankfully
I live in Kalgoorlie where the deceased man was being transfered to whilst
in “custody” (what a joke).
His arrest was for traffic warrants.
The behaviour of the “contracted custodians” brings to mind the aborted experiment
in which electric shocks were administered by persons who only obeyed instructions
but accepted no responsibility for their actions (ie. I was only contracted to drive from
point A to point B)
This is outsourcing gone mad ,it will be interesting to see what the coroner comes up with.
Stanford Prison Experiment.
I know the axiom says “the first to invoke the Nazis loses”, but here I’ll make an exception. Nazis who were tried at Nuremburg were found guilty even though their defence was that if they hadn’t obeyed orders they would have been shot.
So if it’s not ok for a Nazi to commit atrocities upon threat of death, how on Earth is it ok for contractors to commit atrocities upon threat of, well, nothing?
This is a disgusting indictment not only of brutal Howard (and now Rudd) Government policy, but of the contractors themselves. Nobody can ever stop you from exercising your own judgement; to abdicate this most basic human responsibility makes you an animal.