Detention centres the 'ugly end of economic rationalism'

BY MARINA CARMAN

SYDNEY — "Australasian Correctional Management gets paid $139 a day for each refugee in the detention centres that it runs. And what do the refugees get? Appalling conditions, not enough food or toilets, sedatives, surveillance, less than $1 an hour pay for work done within the centre, and even assault. This is the ugly end of economic rationalism", said Peter Walker from the Socialist Alliance and International Socialist Organisation at a forum on refugees organised by the alliance's Eastern Sydney group in Maroubra on August 2.

Drawing on first-hand experience, Shaik Rahman from the Refugee Action Collective and the Bangladeshi community told meeting-goers of the impossible bureaucratic procedures involved in applying for refugee status in Australia.

Walker encouraged people to get involved in the Socialist Alliance to provide an alternative. "The Liberals' policy is criminal, and Labor does little more than echo this policy. Beazley has called for an inquiry into the detention centres, but what more evidence do you need?

"This is just one example of the adverse effects of economic rationalism. The fight starts at a local level, and it won't end with the close of the polling booths. So get involved."

From GLW issue 459