Public Address | Cafe | Speaker: The problem is Serco https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Alfie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=353163#post353163 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=353163#post353163 The impossible has happened… Serco has been sacked.

Private prison operator Serco’s contract to run the troubled Mt Eden Corrections Facility will not be renewed.

The company’s contract is up for review, and Corrections chief executive Ray Smith has recommended that it should not be extended beyond next year.

The Herald…

]]> Wed, 09 Dec 2015 12:25:01 +1300 Howard Edwards https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346993#post346993 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346993#post346993 Tue, 01 Sept 2015 09:56:26 +1200 Kumara Republic https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346987#post346987 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346987#post346987 kids-for-cash infamy. ]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 23:36:14 +1200 Ian Dalziel https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346985#post346985 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346985#post346985 Great Scoop on The Nation.
Heck, a simple Parliamentary subscription to Private Eye could have saved this country millions!
;- )

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 22:57:12 +1200 Alastair Thompson https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346983#post346983 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346983#post346983 Yes you did.... it amazed me that SERCO's CEO
was so candid about that. How this government can possibly be thinking of doing more business with these guys completely astounds me. And yet that's what he claims to be here to talk about. Great Scoop on The Nation.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 19:56:22 +1200 Rosemary McDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346977#post346977 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346977#post346977 Now surely it is merely coincidence that this guy....

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4376127/Ray-Smith-new-corrections-boss

was formerly in charge of the dysfunctional organisation that, according to this guy...

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/282623/'staggering-link'-between-cyf-care-and-crime

Hmmm...

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:09:32 +1200 Matthew Poole https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346964#post346964 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346964#post346964 Mon, 31 Aug 2015 16:41:29 +1200 Sam Bradford https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346951#post346951 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346951#post346951 I really don't think the problem is Serco, despite their awfulness. The problem is a for-profit prison system.

I'd also worry about 'incentives' based on things like the recidivism rate — they wouldn't improve recidivism the hard, expensive and uncertain way, with counselling and education etc... they'd use the easier…

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:02:53 +1200 Ian Dalziel https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346946#post346946 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346946#post346946 It chops,! It dices! It reams!
But wait, there's more!

Didn't I also hear Serco's top man say he was here to look at buying state houses and even a new train set...

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 13:47:21 +1200 Moz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346939#post346939 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346939#post346939 "Yes, they’re expecting $30,000,000 a year in profit from South Auckland Wiri prison" ... I think that's revenue not profit.

I thought revenue was gross turnover, profit was what they kept after expenses. So 10% profit seems reasonable (in the sense that "high profits from bilking the taxpayer is reasonable"…

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:22:02 +1200 David Hood https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346936#post346936 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346936#post346936 incentivise them around the recidivism rate

and, for that matter, the "prisoners leaving jail intact" rate.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:18:52 +1200 Mark Graham https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346934#post346934 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346934#post346934 Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:06:36 +1200 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346927#post346927 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346927#post346927 The disappointing thing about the performance of Serco is that it is all too similar to the work of the Department of Corrections. They were supposed to be better.

I discussed this with a friend who worked (for a third party organisation) in Mt Eden Corrections Facility and he was…

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:21:58 +1200 Alex Coleman https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346925#post346925 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346925#post346925 Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:02:27 +1200 Alex Coleman https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346924#post346924 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346924#post346924 The disappointing thing about the performance of Serco is that it is all too similar to the work of the Department of Corrections. They were supposed to be better.

Wasn't the model of contracts and incentives supposed to, via common sense and magical laws of the universe, ensure that they…

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 10:59:51 +1200 Joe Wylie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346921#post346921 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346921#post346921 Mon, 31 Aug 2015 10:20:13 +1200 Rosemary McDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346918#post346918 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346918#post346918 Like the private sector provides better disability care.

And pending, better child protection services.

And better social housing provision.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 09:55:54 +1200 Joe Wylie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346917#post346917 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346917#post346917 The disappointing thing about the performance of Serco is that it is all too similar to the work of the Department of Corrections. They were supposed to be better.

Better than what? The overhyping of Serco was all about the private sector doing it better.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 09:47:33 +1200 Tinakori https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346915#post346915 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346915#post346915 "Yes, they’re expecting $30,000,000 a year in profit from South Auckland Wiri prison"

I think that's revenue not profit.

The disappointing thing about the performance of Serco is that it is all too similar to the work of the Department of Corrections. They were supposed to be better.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 09:44:51 +1200 izogi https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346914#post346914 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346914#post346914 The fines that Sam Lotu-Iiga has talked about aren’t fines, they’re just not paying them their performance bonuses. Bonuses which make up 10% of the contract. The other 90% is, contractually, untouchable.

It's really hard to believe a contract would have been written to protect the other 90% for Serco…

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 09:08:48 +1200 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346913#post346913 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-the-problem-is-serco/?p=346913#post346913 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 09:08:47 +1200