Serco’s secret algorithm, abuse claims over Gaza raid, Greens’ demand on offshore gas

Good morning. We lead today with a Guardian investigation which has found that the lives of detainees in Australia’s immigration detention centres are controlled by a secret rating system that is opaque and often riddled with errors.

Meanwhile, the Albanese government wants Greens support over vehicle emissions standards, but the Greens say for that to happen Labor will need to back down on proposals to benefit the offshore gas industry.

And: there are calls for an investigation into alleged abuses against Palestinian medical staff held in detention after an Israeli raid on a Gaza hospital.

Nauroze Anees spent more than 1,000 days in a Serco-run immigration detention centre in Australia, but for most of that time, he had no idea he was the subject of a Security Risk Analysis Tool, or SRAT, that determined where he was accommodated and whether he was handcuffed outside the centre.

The secretive SRAT attempts to calculate a detainee’s “risk” for violence, escape or self-harm. But lawyers, immigration insiders and government reports say the tool regularly rates people as high risk based on “unwarranted” escalations and inaccurate information – with devastating consequences.

Anees said: “Serco is essentially the judge, jury and executioner.”

The Melbourne Theatre Company’s 37 – by Trawlwoolway playwright Nathan Maynard – follows two Aboriginal players in a country team during the Adam Goodes era. Goodes left the AFL in disgust in 2015, and more and more Indigenous players are alleging that the AFL failed to protect them from racist abuse and discrimination. In the wake of the hugely disappointing Indigenous voice to parliament debate, this play is terrific, thrilling – and a wake-up call, writes Tim Byrne.

More than one in four residential properties purchased in NSW, Victoria and Queensland last year were paid for entirely with cash by older Australians – highlighting disparities in the property market, reports ABC News. Regional communities in Victoria prone to patchy electricity and power outages during tourist peaks will have their supply shored up under a first round of neighbourhood batteries, reports the Age. The latest snapshot of school profile data reveals Sydney’s western and northern suburbs have recorded the biggest enrolment growth in the past decade – with more schools surging past the 3,000 student mark, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

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