Scott Morrison and Serco Australia Pty Ltd

Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison and his department have responsibility for immigration detention centres.

These centres are for people who have overstayed their visa, are in breach of their visa conditions or who have come here without a valid visa. People who are refused entry into Australia at international airports and seaports may also be detained in an immigration detention centre. The centres provide accommodation for medium and high risk detainees and the majority of the population are single adult males.

UK based Serco Group Pty Ltd through its subsidiary Serco Australia Pty Limited has been contracted by the Australian Government to operate the detention centres.

Serco Australia’s principal shareholders are listed in its 2012 Annual Report as:

This is what Serco says of itself:

* Serco is committed to working transparently and in accordance with the laws and financial reporting requirements of the countries in which it operates.

We prepare our financial reports to high standards, ensure that they are properly audited and seek to lodge them in compliance with the relevant requirements and in line with accounting standards.

Serco Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in accordance with its Rules, publishes Annual Reports and Accounts and Stock Exchange Announcements.

Our Asia Pacific division is made up of a number of companies.

In Australia, Serco operates as Serco Group Pty Limited, comprised of: Serco Australia Pty Limited; Great Southern Railway Holdings Pty Limited; and, Serco Traffic Camera Services (Vic) Pty Ltd. We seek to comply with the Corporations Act in providing special purpose financial reports to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

* In line with our values, Serco is committed to treating people in our care with dignity and respect in a safe and secure environment. Across Australia's network of immigration centres, our staff work hard to ensure the wellbeing of people in administrative detention, and to deliver high quality services.

We provide catering, recreation, education and excursions, manage accommodation, facilities, maintenance, transport and logistics, security, training and procurement. Our employees look after thousands of people in locations all over Australia, responding to their cultural, religious and individual needs.

Community engagement is an important part of our approach. It's beneficial to the welfare of the people we look after, and consistent with our intention to be a good neighbour to those who live in the areas where we work. We also welcome the involvement of external agencies and independent observers, as we believe clear and strong accountability is a key element in successful service delivery.

We seek to innovate, develop and continuously improve in our provision of immigration services, to meet our responsibilities and fulfil our duty of care.

Serco Australia has been in the news recently due to its alleged penny pinching ways with regard to supplying sanitary pads/tampons to female detainees, an allegation of rape at its Christmas Island detention centre, complaints about poor security at Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, dehumanising detainees by using numbers instead of names and making Curtin detainees jump through hoops to access phone calls and then restricting their ability to do so, denying them access to scanning facilities and instituting a complete blackout of Australian television stations.

It is also alleged that it has been price gouging under a contract it has to transport West Australian prisoners and, in 2013 admitted to inappropriate sexual contact between a male guard and female detainee.

Serco Australia’s British parent company is also under fire for the supply of inadequate asylum seeker housing services, and been ordered to repay £68.5m of taxpayers' money after being found to be overcharging for prisoner tagging.

One has to wonder why Morrison and his department continue to support this private company.