Company to ask shareholders to approve name change as parent company seeks to distance itself amid controversy over detention centre contracts

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Beleagured detention centre operator Transfield Services will ask its shareholders to approve a change in name and logo to “Broadspectrum”, after the company’s founding family withdrew its permission to use their Transfield brand.



The privately-held parent company Transfield Holdings, which is owned by the sons of founder Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, is seeking to distance itself from Transfield Services because of continued controversy over Transfield Services’ detention centre contracts.

Transfield Holdings, owned by brothers Luca and Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, sold its 11.3% stake in Transfield Services for more than $90m last year. It withdrew its permission to use the Transfield name and logo earlier this year.



Transfield could face legal action over Nauru and Manus abuses, group warns Read more

Transfield Services has come under sustained pressure over its management of the Manus Island and Nauru immigration detention centres.



The detention centres there have been the site of violent riots, child sexual abuse allegations, assaults and other human rights breaches, and have been consistently condemned by the United Nations, human rights groups and parliamentary inquiries.

Late last month, the federal government announced Transfield Services was its preferred tenderer to run the offshore detention centres for another five years. Guardian Australian understands the total contract is expected to be worth about $2.7bn, or $45m a month.



In a letter to shareholders on Friday, Transfield defended its record.

“We are making a positive contribution to the lives of asylum seekers. The care and wellbeing of asylum seekers is paramount in our processes, decision and actions. Your board is proud of the work our staff is doing. We respect human rights in every aspect of our operations.”



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The company said it had co-operated with parliamentary inquiries and reviews by independent bodies, including the UNHCR and Red Cross.

It conceded that “in a small number of instances, members of Transfield Services staff or sub-contracted staff have acted in a manner that is inconsistent with our expectations. We have taken firm and decisive action to eliminate risk and demonstrate that misconduct will not be tolerated. No act of abuse is acceptable. Not one.”

The company pointed out there had been no police charges laid against it.



However, lingering mistrust remains between Transfield and the local population on Manus Island, particularly over the actions of one of its sub-contractors, Wilson Security.

After a late-night drinking session which ended in a local Transfield employee allegedly being drugged and raped by three Australian Wilson Security guards, the guards were swiftly repatriated off the island, and out of reach of PNG law.

After two Transfield vehicles were seized by the victim’s family and supporters, Transfield management reportedly promised to return the alleged offenders to the island to face questioning. They still have not been returned.



Transfield has been under significant financial and business pressure for its involvement in Australia’s offshore detention regime.

Industry super fund Hesta last month announced it had sold its stake in Transfield Services because of a “substantial body of evidence” of human rights violations inside the offshore detention centres.

The $32bn fund said the risks associated with Transfield Services were too high.

As well, Transfield Services chairwoman Diane Smith-Gander was reportedly blocked from taking over as chair of Tourism Australia over concerns, including from two cabinet ministers, of a possible backlash over Transfield’s activities, and the attention it would draw to immigration policies.



Controversy over Transfield Services’ detention centre management is not new.



Luca Belgiorno-Nettis was forced to step down as chairman of Sydney’s Biennale arts festival in March 2014 after artists opposed to the company’s detention centre operations on Manus Island and Nauru lobbied the Biennale board.

Transfield Services already uses the name Broadspectrum for its electrical contracting services business, and said the new moniker was “a better representation of the company’s business which is delivering a broad range of services that are essential to clients across multiple sectors”.

Shen Narayanasamy, executive director of No Business in Abuse and human rights director at GetUp, said public controversy over Transfield/Broadspectrum would only end if they abandoned their involvement in offshore processing.

“The company’s own figures show that someone tries to kill themselves in the Nauru detention camp every four days, and there is a serious sexual assault every four months.

“You don’t deal with abuse by changing your name, you deal with abuse by stopping the abuse. No amount of spin changes Transfield’s complicity in abuse. Transfield/Broadspectrum doesn’t have to sign a five-year contract to continue profiting from the abuse of vulnerable people. That’s their decision.”