The series return of award winning SBS refugee documentary Go Back to Where You Came From attracted more than 1.5 million viewers nationally and sparked fierce debate online over Australia's asylum seeker policies.
Last night, show participant and former Howard government minister Peter Reith was one of the most talked about topics on Twitter, according to the site's official metrics. Mr Reith was one of the architects of the Pacific Solution, a policy that led to asylum seekers being processed offshore.
The Go Back episode featured Mr Reith travelling with Catherine Deveny and Angry Anderson to meet with several members of the ethnic minority Hazara, who make up almost half of all refugees who have arrived in Australia by boat over the past four years.
“I so hope that we go to [visit] Afghanis, so that Peter Reith can meet these people that he left on the Tampa, and ended up sending to Nauru,” Ms Deveny said during the show.
The team did travel to Afghanistan, where Mr Reith faced a tense showdown with a man forced to return home as a direct result of Howard-government introduced asylum policy.
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Resai, a Hazara man who was aboard the Tampa, was taken to an offshore processing site for 14 months before being deported.
“We moved to the worst island, the name of Nauru Island,” he said.
“There was not any facilities, and a lot of people become sick. There was not any lawyer to support us and our cases.”
Of the 312 refugees who were returned to Afghanistan with Resai, at least 11 have since been killed, he told Go Back participants.
Mr Reith offered limited commentary on the experience. “He was bitterly disappointed that he didn't make it to Australia, but we just don't know the full situation.”
“You can understand that when you have a lot of people going through the system, mistakes are made,” Mr Reith said. “That's not great, but these things happen.”
The show's official hashtag #GoBackSBS was still trending on the social networking site this morning.
Go Back to Where You Came From continues tonight and Thursday at 8.30pm on SBSONE. Catch up on missed episodes here.
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