BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM
When Peter “children overboard” Reith stands on a mountain in Kabul, looks into the eyes of Rezai – a refugee deported back to Afghanistan from Australia – and listens to the horrifying litany of those who were also sent back and died, were kidnapped or never been seen again, does that change his view?
“Not really,” says Rick McPhee, series producer of Go Back To Where You Came From, tonight on SBS.
“Peter gets very sad about their individual stories, but he’s got the big overview. He’s pragmatic.
“Although, there was one woman in a refugee camp who had her first child at 13 and is now 20. She had no choices. Peter was very moved. It’s a powerful scene.”
And what does Peter Reith think of his “children overboard” tag?
“He’s sick to death of it. He concedes the Tampa was a stuff-up. But it was a small event that happened a long time ago and it was not part of a conspiracy.”
Tonight we will see the second instalment of the powerful documentary “Go Back To Where You Came From”.
This time, says McPhee, we will watch people who have nailed their colours to the mast on refugees.
Unlike the participants in the first series who were just everyday people, this lot – including Reith, columnist Catherine Deveny and rocker-turned-politician, Angry Anderson – have even more strongly held opinions.
To watch their argument and reaction is even more riveting, he says.
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20 Responses to this article
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Sally August 28, 2012
I just can’t bear the sight of Peter “Liar” Reith and his smug certitude. Puts me right off this series I’m afraid. He is an unbowed apologist for the lies and inhumanity of Tampa / Children Overboard. Don’t give a STUFF if he’s ” sick to death ” of it all – he has never apologised and should never be allowed to forget.
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Di Pearton August 29, 2012
I agree, totally. Peter Reith has not done his time for a despicable career in politics. He lied to the Australian people about the children overboard and the waterfront dispute, and then ripped the taxpayer off with his telephone card. And yet he has suffered no consequence, and is trotted out on various media outlets as a talking head. Like John Howard, no apology. What is wrong with these people? Every privilege but they can’t share?
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Alan August 28, 2012
The first show should have been a one off. It had the element of surprise and involved people who were close to being average Australians. Now the boat is loaded with massive egos who know what to expect and will have prepared their script in advance. It has no credibility and is on a par with celebrity chef or celebrity big brother. It trivialises an important issue and makes vulnerable people extras in some other person’s ego trip. So no, I won’t be watching.
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Matt August 28, 2012
We should raise the refugee intake to 20,000.
What if that’s not enough? What if more want to come?
Well let’s make it 30,000?
What if that’s not enough, what if more want to come?
Well let’s make it 40,000?
What if that’s not enough, what if more want to come?
Well let’s make it 50,000?
My point is at what point do supporters of an open border policy say we can’t take anymore? Do you support an unlimited number? If you do, how do we pay for it and will there be any social ramifications? Will it put too much pressure on our health system for example? Will it effect the skilled migration intake?
I’d like to get an understanding of some of the real nuts and bolts issues, not merely the emotional pleas which generally dominate this debate. -
Jo Hilder August 28, 2012
I can’t bring myself to watch it. I support it in principle – that is, if I’m right in assuming the principle behind the show is to remake some of the racism and prejudice rife amongst white, middle class Australians into something more closely resembling compassion and empathy. Changing peoples attitudes towards refugees is a bit like major dental work – you know it has to be done, but you’d rather it was as painless and unspectacular as possible. I find watching this both painful in the extreme, and an embarrassing spectacle. I respect the participants immensely, both the “contestants” and the subjects, but I would like to see empirical evidence this program changes the attitudes of the truly prejudiced in any tangible way. I agree with the former commenter – we got the point with the first set of programs.
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Carole August 29, 2012
Yes Alan, you keep your eyes shut tight, ignorance is bliss, so they say.
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Rosie August 29, 2012
Greedy Australians still don’t get it. Let’s stop thinking of these people as a burden on Australia. Do we still not remember how white Australians came to this country – the original boat people.
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Matt August 29, 2012
Don’t forget about the unicorns and the fairy dust as well.
I sometimes think ‘Reality’ visits this website to take a break.
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Alan August 29, 2012
Sorry carole, what’s your point?
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Red 60 August 29, 2012
I think this subject is too hot and one that many people will never agree on, sorry to say, and in the middle are people in need, who will in the end, continue to suffer…
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Sam W August 29, 2012
Since when was the Tampa overboard affair a “small event”? It polarised politics and the Australian people. Yes the show is contrived and predictable but it’s significance lies in its humanising “the boat people” – real people with a desire for a better life, something we all take for granted here. There is something fascinating about watching “queue jumper” haters with a tear in their eye as they realise these people aren’t “illegal” or “disrespectful” but just want a fair crack at life without guns, torture and war. And as for Michael the shock jock, boo hiss, what a pain in the arse you are. Petty, ignorant and insensitive – the perfect shock jock recipe
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Annie August 29, 2012
Sure we need to take more refugees that are in immediate danger however we also need to investigate how to help the 10′s of 1000′s of people who need help now in their own country, somehow, at ground level. a difficult thing indeed with so much turmoil in the troubled regions.
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Rhoda August 29, 2012
It’s confronting because it means we have to shut our eyes or let them all in. Letting them all in means we have to let them have a piece each of the pie. Not that much to go round is there. Not when you consider our indigenous people still haven’t had a fair bite.
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Catherine August 29, 2012
I thought the line re the tag “boat people” was a great reminder that the only reason we call them boat people is because we are an island. Anywhere else they are refugees, crossing borders by foot, train and aeroplane, considered as needing refuge unless shown to be otherwise. Isn’t it a reality that with our birth rate we need refugees to be a future workforce and in an over-populated world this makes total sense to me.
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suzanne September 2, 2012
Go Back to Where You Came From proved to be quite an eye-opener for this audience member and a life changing journey for some of the protagonists Those who were not changed- Deveny, Bailey and Asher remained steadfast in their original positions. Deveny in particular was so self- righteous and smug, right up to the Jenny Brockie Insight program that I just wanted to shake her. On the other hand, Michael Smith’s journey was utterly spellbinding. To watch this over-confident, erudite man find his heart opening against his will was extraordinary and moving. The turmoil that has now erupted in his life was pinpointed by the camera focussing on his wife who, unlike her husband, has not had her heart opened and is facing the amazing shift that her husband, who cannot now go back to where he came from, has undergone- he wants to adopt the young boy, a spirit so akin to him that he fell in love with this kid in a matter of hours, and bring him ‘home’. Sure, its a huge change in a settled affluent lifestyle where you could see her thinking of all of that plus her own kids and where do they stand- and he seemed so unhappy that night in studio with Deveny still patronisingly slamming away, not having noticed the finer points of humanity that had developed in front of her eyes. Bailey, through the trip was a brilliant presence, a thorn in Smith’s side, a thorn from a rose ,full of compassion but always nudging him to make the shift- which he did. How impressive she was. Angry Anderson also fell through the vortex and found both his mortality and his inner spirit rising to be simply acknowledged- without pain.His acceptance was emotional but full of light. Reith too became the human face of fear and ,in his attempts at asserting his non-existent power, a figure who evoked so much compassion from me I was surprised.Catherine’s work I admire but she is stuck in terrible anger.Unless she can open her eyes , bend in the winds of change and accept the inherent humanity which lies deep within all of us she will be trapped on that terrible wheel of self-righteous anger. From one who has lived it a warning-It’s boring and it drives people away.
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Dee September 24, 2012
The show highlighted for me Peter Reith’s subtle disdain of the public as he thinks we need to be ‘packaged information’. He needs to take responsiblity for his deception to the Australian people with the children overboard, that type of manipulation is shocking and unethical, and I am glad that the show revealed the extent to which politicans will try to shape the public’s fears. Reith, go back to where YOU came from, voluntarily ex-patriate yourself to your country of origin. Australia will be better for it.
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Joanne October 31, 2012
If a person can pay some people smuggler 10.000 dollars to get here,,,,,, well all I can say is why cant they apply to get here through the right channels,,,,,, a person who is in real need and is desperate DOES NOT HAVE 10.000 DOLLARS WAKE UP YOU LOT,,,,,, I live in Australia I work but I would be hard pressed to come up with 10.000 dollars to go anywhere. These people are not genuine refugees,, they are queue jumpers and we dont know what background they have come from.
I am all for protecting our borders and yes there a lot of scum bags that get into Australia through the proper channels as well,,,, but lets not be so gullible, those who can pay,,,, should be made to do so the proper way.-
RobynMarie October 31, 2012
You need to read the story on compassion. You need to educate yourself on what conditions those people were living under. Don’t be so quick to judge the resons why…If I was living in Afghanistan or Pakistan I would do what I had to do to get out and so would you.
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jojogirl November 1, 2012
RobynMarie- I have an abundance of compassion I work with people who are profoundly disabled and finding it hard to exist and get equal rights here in our own country, and friends who have lost their jobs and have had no where to live due to the high rental market, and the lack of government housing being provided for Australian citizens who are down on their luck. I have so much compassion for anyone who is experience hardship that I wish I could inject it into a lot of my fellow Australians,,,,, but compassion and charity needs to start at home, we have in this young country of ours many many people who need help, and it makes me very angy that they are being over looked and treated like second class citizens.
I help people everyday and am down in the cold face of it all,,,,,,, I THINK I QUALIFY AS HAVING COMPASSION BUT WITH A DOSE OF REALITY THROWN IN.
