Go Back: Behind the scenes at Christmas Island

27 Aug 2012, 5:44 pm   -   Source: Andy Park, SBS
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This week’s return of ‘Go Back to Where You Came From’ on SBS will give Australia its first look inside the Christmas Island detention centre, a setting that delivers some of the series’ tensest moments. 

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By Andy Park

“The moment we stepped on Christmas Island there was a sense on uneasiness, a trapped sadness,” Imogen Bailey says.

“I felt like I was in a mental institution.”

The actor and animal rights activist is one of six notable Australians who took part in the return of the SBS documentary series ‘Go Back to Where You Came From’, which recreates elements of the journey of an asylum seeker heading for Christmas Island.

The series’ participants and crew toured the rarely seen temporary buildings on Christmas Island where asylum seekers are housed, and were allowed to speak with any of the detainees there.

Up to 3000 people have been housed in the Christmas Island detention centre, but the series’ producers say authorities lowered the number of “clients” to around 800 when the cast and crew visited.

At one stage, Ms Bailey and fellow participant, writer and comedian Catherine Deveny, entered an area housing child refugees, a zone of the detention centre where the crew’s cameras were banned.

“They all sang ‘If you’re happy in Australia, clap your hands,” Ms Bailey said.

“That was the moment the whole trip came together for me. It’s such a shame that Australia doesn’t get to see that.”

Christmas Island has not always been Australian territory.

In 1957 the Australian government paid Singapore 2.9 million pounds for the land and it has been the destination for irregular boat arrivals ever since.

CHILDREN OVERBOARD AFFAIR

But two key moments in Australia’s political and humanitarian history mark Christmas Island as more than an isolated territory with a now-defunct casino and dwindling phosphate reserves.

The Tampa affair in August 2001, when the Howard Government refused entry to a Norwegian freighter carrying 483 rescued refugees, turned into a key election issue.

It was followed by the ‘Children Overboard Affair’ in October that year – a controversy that embroiled Go Back participant and former Howard-era minister, Peter Reith.

“It was good to see the place. I didn’t get the opportunity back then,” Mr Reith said.

However, he is reticent to talk about the ‘Children Overboard Affair’, an issue that sparked conflict between the cast during their visit to Christmas Island.

Ms Bailey said she was embarrassed that she didn’t pay attention to the politics at the time.

“So off-camera I asked Peter (Reith) about it and he said, ‘That’s the great thing about Australia, you can leave it to the politicians’,” she said.

'EXPLOSIVE CONFRONTATION'

The remark spurred her to question Mr Reith on-camera, resulting in an explosive confrontation in episode three. 

“They feed the Australian people these bogan slogans like ‘turn around the boats’ and they don’t think that the Australian people have the intelligence to make up their own minds,” Ms Bailey said.

“It was good that we could show that moment, it was a very heated moment.”

Series producer Rick McPhee said he thought the friction resulted from a misunderstanding.

“I think what Peter meant was, ‘Aren’t you lucky that you don’t live in Syria or North Korea?’,” he said.

“His point was [that] in Australia, you have the luxury of not having to worry about it ‘cause it’s a pretty stable Western democracy,” he said.

For his part, Mr Reith said he was trying to explain that “a lot of people in Australia don’t have the patience for the issue”.

He said was no attempt from the participants opposed to his position to reach a common viewpoint.

“People have these locked these views. I would have hoped that they could tried to think differently, to be open to the evidence and think about these things from a different aspect,” he said.

SECURITY NOT GOOD ENOUGH: REITH

Mr Reith was also critical of the show’s security arrangements, especially in Afghanistan when the participants’ passports were taken from them to simulate the plight of refugees with no identification.

“The security wasn’t good enough. They told us that the security of our team was more important than the show and that just wasn’t true,” he said.

“This is not a game. SBS has an obligation to comply with the agreed security arrangements.”

The cast and crew arrived in Kabul during heighted tensions, after the US army burnt Korans allegedly containing coded messages.

Mr McPhee says he consulted with the production’s security team.

“I think he has every right to question the security. It’s a big leap of faith to put your life in the hands of a production company, people you don’t know,” he said.

“Not everyone was in lockdown, so I took their advice. In their estimation it was a reasonable risk to leave the compound,” he said.

Ms Bailey said she felt SBS and Jigsaw Cordell (the production company) did everything they could to protect the participants’ safety.

“There are no guarantees, but I think Peter’s reaction was simply [the] truth of the experience,” she said

When asked if he would do it again, Mr Reith said “no way”.

Go Back to Where You Came From - Series 2 premieres on SBS ONE on August 28 at 8.30pm.

Listen to SBS radio interviews with the cast:

 


Go Back To Where You Came From , Asylum-seekers , Christmas Island , Andy Park SBS

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World's population problem

Mike - from Newcastle, 9 months ago

A few questions to ponder. Why after thousands of years have these birth of civilizatio countries got so many problems that thier populations must flee to western countries for humane living standards? Why do so- called desperate refugees travel through 3-4 countries to get to Australia by hook or by crook? Why are these citizens not able to participate in their own countries struggle to make living standards better? How many unfortunates would move out of their own country given the chance?

mr

luke dwyer - from manly, 9 months ago

the causes : war , overpopulation, greed, corruption. No surprises here. the symptoms are the atrocious conditions that we see in this thoughtprovoking program. i think all of the australians featured in the program were dignified and compassionate. the sad irony is that most of the stable democratic countries that these people hope to seek refuge in, have payed extremely heavy prices in blood themselves, a point that many immigrants, and australian born citizens, seem to take for granted.

Reith

J - from Sydney, 9 months ago

What a great show. It really shines a light on the human in all of us whilst comically documenting Peter Reith's mis-informed, prejudiced brain - reduced to a feverish jibber: "We stopped the boats, We stopped the boats.." Haha

To Matthew, the Brisbanian - just wanted to quote your words back to you for a bit of contemplation:

Kat - from Melbourne, 9 months ago

"...emotion is a very poor platform for forming rational opinons and finding solutions." So provocative footage (not to mention, names) of TV programs like 'Border Security' which incite fear about foreigners - to use its catchphrase - "who may be hiding something"; loaded language such as "boat people", "illegal immigrants", "queue-jumpers"; misinterpreted images publicised under the caption, "Children Overboard" - an assessment on the issue needs to be based on deeper stimuli than those, yes?

Angry Idiot Anderson

Jason Pistol - from Hobart, 9 months ago

what a complete racist Anderson makes and to think the individual would know better, where did you come from angry, i think you should go back to where you came from you give Australia a bad image and your tattoes suck.

Get a grip

Trist - from Knox, 9 months ago

These comments have made me sick. We have so much in the lucky country of ours. And instead of opening our hearts and wallets to the less fortunate, the downtrodden, the broken and the people who are really suffering you want to turn your back and have it all for yourself. You make me sick with your racist attitudes ..

Shock Value Reality TV

Mathew - from Brisbane, QLD, 9 months ago

Naturally if someone from a developed country goes to an undeveloped country, they are going to have an emotive reaction and experience culture shock. However, emotion is a very poor platform for forming rational opinons and finding solutions. But this reaction has nothing to do with the issue at hand. The show should be analysing the actual motives behind asylum claims, methods of processing, how & to what extent asylum seekers integrate into Australia's culture, etc.

Times have changed

Yousif - from Sydney, 9 months ago

Between the hyped up patriotic smokescreen & the vastly unjust & monopolised media an polluted environment was created were it became ok for people like Chris from Melbourne to openly exercise his right to opinion even when it clearly race & religion selective. Just because you can target a group dosnt make it right. Malcom X, Mendela, King & my Imam tell me we're equal. Peace

More agit-prop from the lefty network

Markus K - from Melbourne, 9 months ago

The 1st season was nauseating, and no doubt this piece of left wing funded propaganda will do just the same'. It will insult everyone who isn't a sanctimonious lefty by trying to say' look, we're right you're wrong, you must agree with us or you're an uneducated bogan!'. Fact is, most people are fine with orderly immigration, nobody is forcing these people onto boats -it's a choice they made to seek economic ease at the expense of our too generous welfare system. Showing half truths isn't honest

Home truths

Chris p - from Melbourne, 9 months ago

I'm not quite sure what this show is trying to prove. we already know these people come from unfortunate backgrounds. The point is Australians don't want third world people and Muslims in Australia we need to keep what we have pure for future generations there's plenty of countries who don't have immigration like Japan eastern Europe etc. and they do fine I don't want to end up like a France, Netherlands or a UK

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