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.”
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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:
[sbspodcast id="229227"]
