I think you’ve got a point, but I also think he’s more likely to listen if he’s not being sworn at; any chance of that?

Regards,
James.

The only responsibility the corporations have is to return a profit to their shareholders. They plead ‘commercial in confidence’ at the drop of a hat, and have absolutely no obligation to disclose how they reach the random figures they pluck out of their arses.

For some comment on that you may like to read:
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/committee.nsf/0/80F365E089726B75CA25708300191671
which cites no lesser wacky liberal than the NSW Auditor General commenting on this little problem, and admitting they were forced TO MAKE THE FIGURES UP to even produce a comparison.

It also points out that the two new public prisons in the state (where they actually do know what the figures comprise) are running more efficiently than NSW’s one privatised prison Junee, but why let that stand in the way of a rapacious company handing out money?

I’d be a little careful taking too much of this to heart though, as it’s recently revealed that not only has the company (GEO) been throwing money at both political parties for some time, they were slipping money to the chair of the Public Affairs Committee that produced this report, at the time he was chairing said committee.

Not unusual this side of the ditch, but should give one pause for thought. In fact, some American city councils are now refusing to accept and/or returning money from GEO as it is seen as too tainted.

not that people like you, Curious, Razorlight et al, would care, but another group of renowned leftie rabble rousers, the US Department of Justice, produced this report showing the massive increase in assaults in private prisons, on both staff and inmates.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf

I don’t even know where to start with the horror stories, increased costs and dangers to the community, inmates and staff. But then, the great god of neo-liberalism tells you the market can do it better (read the papers much recently?) so you go with that.

And you accuse us of ideological blindness!!

The SST don’t influence the way I vote, and I suspect they get far more free media than their funding or organisational capacity might warrant. There’s no evidence that National’s prisons policy has been driven or influenced by the SST, or any of its funders. As far as the funding arrangements go, there’s actually evidence of no relationship, by virtue of the fact that National hasn’t disclosed any offshore funding from the prisons organisations, or from the SST, as it would have been required to do under the EFA.