The company that used to be called Transfield Services, has revealed a profit of Au$25.1 million for the six months to the end of December.

The jump in group earnings was mostly driven by a 6.5 per cent rise in underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the company's defence, social and property sector, which includes the detention centres contracts.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection recently said the company was no longer the sole preferred bidder for a new, five-year contract.

Instead, the government extended Broadspectrum's current contract by 12 months to give it time to open up the tender process.

Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial is making a takeover bid for Broadspectrum.

The uncertainty about the contract triggered a sharp sell off in Broadspectrum's shares and left Ferrovial's $692 million bid for the company in the balance.

Ferrovial described the change to the contract status as a "significant and negative" one that adversely impacts the value of the takeover target.

Broadspectrum remains open to talks with Ferrovial if the Spanish infrastructure returns with a higher takeover offer, said chief executive Graeme Hunt.

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• smh.com.au
• sbs.com.au
• Image: sbs.com.au

The Australian government has granted the welfare contract to the multinational, Transfield Services.

Transfield Services has received $1.5bn from the Australian federal government since being contracted in October 2012 to manage Australia's detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru.

There have been 47 violations of international law at the centres since Transfield took on the contract three years ago, according to the report by not-for-profit group No Business in Abuse.

Charities working in Australia's asylum seeker detention centres have been asked to pay multi-million dollar bonds that can be forfeited if they speak out against government policy.

Fairfax Media reported that aid agencies, including Save the Children and the Australian Red Cross, were asked by the immigration department to offer "performance security" during contract negotiations.

Save the Children Australia chief executive Paul Ronalds said his organisation refused to sign the bond agreement, interpreting it as a gag clause.

But other organisations, including the Red Cross and Transfield Services, agreed to pay.

"We're incredibly proud of what we've achieved, the education we've been able to deliver to asylum seekers and refugees, the support we've been able to provide," said Rolands.

"On the other hand, we are very concerned that with Save the Children leaving, it means there's even one less voice on Nauru to speak out for children and their families."

There needed to be far greater transparency and oversight of Australia's offshore processing centres, which have been condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations, he said.

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• theguardian.com
• Image: theguardian.com

Written submissions to the Australian Senate Committee inquiry told of rape and sexual assault, of children self-harming, of guards trading hot water and drugs for sex, of women and children wetting their beds rather than risk walking to the toilet block at night, and of crowded, mouldy tents infested with mice and cockroaches.

Transfield Services has a A$1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) contract to manage the centre on Nauru.

Appearing before the Senate committee, the company's executive general manager of logistics and facilities management, Derek Osborn, was unable to give specific information about how allegations of the sexual assault of a young boy in 2013 were handled.

Nor could he say how many serious assaults or incidents of self-harm had occurred on Transfield's watch.

Transfield's director, Angela-Margaret Williams, was similarly flummoxed when asked about the gender breakdown of the 500 staff.

Like Osborn, she replied that she did not "have that information at hand" - a gap in knowledge that the committee chairman, Labor Senator Alex Gallacher, described as "extraordinary".

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: resources1.news.com.au