Posted by Christopher Coen on May 31, 2011
The Australian refugee resettlement contractor scandal in Newcastle, New South Whales continues to unravel. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald reveals that not only will the federal government do a forensic audit of the financial management of the resettlement contract, but that the resettlement contractor was also involved in the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq during dictator Saddam Hussein’s rule. This should be a cautionary tale for each case in which one of the US volags is caught violating contracts and abusing refugees — it is simply a matter of time before it happens again or gets worse if it is not rigorously and openly addressed.
A company accused of ripping off refugees was taken over by Trevor Flugge just days after it began its controversial government contract.
Mr Flugge paid $55 million for ACL Pty Ltd, the company which became Navitas English Pty Ltd, after it won the contract to resettle refugees, a business in which it had no previous experience, in Newcastle.
It did not go well from the start. Within months, the company and Mr Flugge were named in a Senate estimates committee hearing over the way the refugees were being treated in the resettlement program, which is responsible for housing and welfare.
The federal Labor MP for Newcastle, Sharon Grierson, told Parliament that within six months, serious problems had emerged. A two-year-old boy had died, refugees were left without enough food, and others had been left alone and given the triple-0 emergency number to call, even though they spoke no English.
A wheelchair-bound man was housed in a first-floor apartment with no lift.
Ms Grierson said those complaints, which stretched back six years, had never been addressed. She told The Sun-Herald this week that there were now allegations of theft, rorting of rents and neglect of the refugees.
Mr Flugge quit as a director of Navitas after the oil-for-food scandal erupted in 2006 and pictures of his gun-toting days in Iraq were splashed around the country.
A refugee advocate, Sister Diana Santleben, has consistently flagged the substandard housing that refugees were being forced to live in, at times without adequate heating or facilities or bedrooms.
The Department of Immigration renewed the contract with Navitas English in March. But when the Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen, was told about the problems he ordered an urgent investigation. Last week he released a scathing report by Ernst & Young into Navitas English’s treatment of the refugees in the Newcastle area.
The report found families were living in unsafe and unacceptable conditions. Many were in overcrowded accommodation and were overcharged for rents, while the quality of the basic household goods they were given was poor. The review has sparked a nationwide audit of refugee resettlement programs.
Mr Bowen has asked Professor David Richmond, AO, to conduct a review into the department and its processes as well as a forensic audit of the financial management of the contract. He has also asked for a report on whether any departmental staff were in breach of their obligations under the public service code of conduct.
He has put the contractor, Navitas English, and the subcontractor, Resolve FM, on notice about expected standards, particularly when dealing with vulnerable people… Read more here
Now, there have been tens of dozens of US refugee resettlement contractors caught neglecting, abusing, and ripping-off refugees in the US refugee resettlement program during the past 15 years, and never once did I encounter a case in which the federal government agency “partners” ever once did a forensic audit. In almost every case refugee resettlement agency and government oversight agency partners stonewalled the media and members of the community and whitewashed findings. Only in the most extreme serious cases, and usually only once the media became involved, did the State Department and/or it’s refugee resettlement contractor discontinue the contract. Yet, charges were never filed, restitution was never made to the taxpayer, and almost never were refugees compensated for the abuse.
I think its clear that the US refugee resettlement program needs to take some lessons in democracy and government accountability from our friends in Australia.
Posted in abuse, Australian refugee resettlement prgm, Catholic, Congolese, fractious relationships with volunteers, furnishings, lack of, household items, missing or broken, housing, substandard, neglect, openess and transparency in government, State Department, stealing money from refugees, Sudanese | Tagged: Australia, forensic audit, government contract, human rights, Newcastle, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, State Department | 2 Comments »
Christopher Coen
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