WHY DO THEY COME?
From the documentary Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea.
This time it’s more than 90 boys and men who are missing, presumed drowned.
Another boat has capsized on the journey from Indonesia, its desperate human cargo seeking political asylum in Australia.
All those lost at sea are someone’s father, son or brother. All have names. When word comes of their death in the deep blue depths, so far from their birthplace, they will be mourned by their families and loved ones. All hope for a better life has been swept away.
Just how does a beloved child become an anonymous “boat person”?
Why do they make such a perilous journey? Can’t they see the boat is overloaded? Why would they take such a risk?
The Hoopla implores you to take five minutes from your day to hear just a few of their stories:
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a multi-award winning* documentary that has not been aired on Australian television. It has, thus far, been rejected by the ABC and SBS for viewing by the Australian public.
Given its international accolades, the producers say they can only surmise it’s because the documentary does not show the required “balance”.
But perhaps, as many political commentators and politicians are beginning to say, in the pursuit of balance, we have thrown out the baby with the bathwater… or indeed the innocent child into the deep blue sea.
This documentary is the work of Jessie Taylor, an Australian human rights and immigration lawyer who, in 2009, travelled to Indonesia and Malaysia with David Schmidt, director of the local production company Liquid Creations.
They took with them an interpreter who was once himself an asylum seeker and collected the first-person stories of refugees all willing to risk everything for a better life.
Their hope was to demystify the plight of “boat people.”
“Australians need to understand why people are getting on the boats in the first place,” Taylor told The Hoopla yesterday.
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41 Responses to this article
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Lady Jewels Diva June 25, 2012
“I SAY SORRY FOR AUSTRALIA THAT I COME BY BOAT… I HAVE CHILDREN…. I DO NOT HAVE ANY CHOICE… THAT’S MY REASON.”
A lot of people will always tell us we have a choice.
What I want to know is why Australia?
Except for the fact we are easy targets and they are constantly told that they will get everything for free and never have to work, why not another country near by. The country right next door, the country two countries away, why put your life, and those of your children in danger, by floating to a country so far away when there are so many in between where they could stop and ask for help.
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WENDY GREEN June 25, 2012
Oh Please!! Are you serious???
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Jess June 25, 2012
That’s why Australia only gets about 0.3% of the world’s refugee movement – the vast majority go elsewhere.
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Don't be naive June 27, 2012
There are quite a few fake “asylum seekers” who are coached in what to say to authorities to maximise their chances of staying, how to work our legal system and appeal processes to their benefit. They are told to destroy all identifying documents in order to lengthen the process of ID and security checks to improve their chances for staying. Many asylum seekers fake their age in order to be processed as children.
The fake Asylum Seekers are taking the place of the people who are waiting in camps doing the right thing. Destination-seeking is not an option open to the people who live in hope and die in despair in camps. I didn’t think the privilege of buying one’s passage into a country of choice, followed by pre-arranged family reunion privileges was something that should be accepted as a routine immigration pathway.
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Sue June 28, 2012
Just where do you get this crap? Do you work with these asylum seekers? Do you get facts and evidence? Or are you just spouting popular prejudice? I work with these people I have not seen, nor heard of one bit of evidence supporting your position. For someone in the land of plenty, you seem mightily callous and greedy.
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Bernadette June 25, 2012
Before that tawdry disgrace that was the children-overboard affair was revealed to be the lie that it was, my father-in-law asked me (rhetorically I think) why someone would love their children so little that they would throw them from a boat. I said who could be so despairing, so terrified and so lacking in options that they thought it was the only way to save their children. Is the film available on DVD?
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Eddie June 25, 2012
Isn’t it dignified of the Aboriginal Australians to not openly seethe hatred & mistrust towards those of us (me included) whose heritage is not from this land?
I wish that many of my peers could be so understanding, conciliatory and long term.
But alas. A mostly selfish & inhospitable breed, are us non indigenous Aussies.
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diane June 25, 2012
These people do have a choice about boarding a boat or arriving by plane, they flee there counrty by plane with all there documents and then they are told to destroy them and then they pay for there boat passage from Malaysia to Australia, where they are promised the world and they get it. This DOES happen I have been told this story by women who have come looking for asylum. They are prepared to wait for as long as it take to be granted asylum
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WENDY GREEN June 25, 2012
I’m sure all asylum seekers are NOT carbon copies of each other …. I actually think they may be individuals – like us – and all have their own unique and desperate stories about how they came to be on a boat.
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Brendan June 25, 2012
Obviously Lady Jewels Diva because they expect that these countries between here and their homeland are not filled with people with the generosity of spirit you so magnificently display. They are GREEDY for the love you so selflessly embody.Perhaps it may have something to do with the fact we are involved in the “wars” being fought in their countries and they mistakenly believed we BELIEVE in those wars rather than the crass suck up to US might so slavishly displayed by the “CHILDREN OVERBOARD” regime.
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Lady Jewels Diva June 27, 2012
Brandan, your comment “They are GREEDY for the love you so selflessly embody” had nothing whatsoever to do with my post. I was merely asking the question, shame on you for implying something else.
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Megan June 25, 2012
It’s an emotional and affecting piece of video, and I’m glad it’s getting an airing on Hoopla. But I can certainly understand why the ABC and SBS aren’t showing it – it is very much an opinion piece, not a documentary.
Lady Jewels Diva (?!), I think the video answers your question fairly well – these people want to go somewhere safe, where their children can grow up as children, playing with toys, not AK-47s. Many of the countries surrounding them are under-developed and also strife-torn, and don’t offer that opportunity for a fresh start, the chance for a safe, happy life. Where would you want to re-settle with your kids?
Refugees who settle in Australia often have a fantastic work ethic, their kids do well at school and they really appreciate and grab hold of the opportunity they have been given. The very fact that they have often had to go to extraordinary lengths to get here is a good indicator that rather than looking for ‘everything for free’ and to ‘never have to work’, refugees are more likely to have initiative and resilience, and make a positive contribution to Australian society.
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WENDY GREEN June 25, 2012
I second that, Megan!
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Sue June 28, 2012
And the countries around Afghanistan are not safe for the Hazara people either as supporters of the Taliban randomly commit violence in for example, Pakistan, to sustain their campaign of terror. And I am wondering how anyone can imagine that a rural Afghani, in a country with no functioning government or public service outside Kabul, can possibly apply for a passport or evidence of citizenship. It is not like here where you just drop into the post office! There is nowhere to get identification papers. They don’t destroy them before they get here! They don’t have them to start with. You can travel in underdeveloped countries, across borders without papers!
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Enough June 25, 2012
Very few Australians would be so ignorant that they don’t understand the suffering in the world but this is simply designed to paint us as ignorant, racist and bigoted rednecks – and the vast majority of us are not. I’m not racist or xenophobic but I’m also not stupid enough to confuse ‘immigration’ and ‘asylum seeking’ with ‘open borders’ and ‘country shopping.’
In America people fend for themselves. In Australia we have a health and education system that is basically socialist. With only 8 million tax payers this is a huge burden as it is. We have pensioners and disabled too frightened to turn on a heater!! We have mothers and children living in cars because of the crisis in emergency housing – I had cause to inquire on behalf of a friend’s daughter and NO-ONE could help her and had no idea when they would be able to! I was told that things are dire for our most needy.
We have boat after boat of MEN arriving! Our soldiers are fighting for THEIR country while they take off! Who are these men who can find $!0 000 Australian? That is the equivalent of a king’s ransom in Afghanistan.
But above all, Rudd and Gillard, with help from their partners in lunacy, the Greens, have created a flourishing business that has caused the death of scores, some of them innocent children.
I know people who work on Christmas Island and they have grave concerns about a great many of the people being accepted. Chris Bowen should have been sacked years ago.
This is a serious policy fail. They can’t Govern so they should call an election. PLEASE let them call an election.
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WENDY GREEN June 25, 2012
I feel sorry for you …. I think you need to go and do some serious soul searching …
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WENDY GREEN June 25, 2012
Problem: people (asylum seekers & refugees) drowning in boats – including women and children (our future).
Solution: send our own Navy ships into Indonesia and offer these poor people a ride – FREE – to Australia while processing their applications on board.
Outcome: thousands of new Australians who will actually treasure our ideals of freedom and justice and equality for all. -
AmyB June 25, 2012
Please don’t forget, to those who ask ‘Why Australia’… We only take about 3% of the worlds refugees. Many go to Europe, America and other, closer countries. Many settle in less fortunate places. Those who come here do so out of desperation, knowing that as a signatory of some important document, Australia has promised the world we will help the people that flee here.
These people don’t get ‘everything’ for free, but they do get Freedom. Yes,they get a fortnightly benefit but it’s a rate less than the elderly pension. Yes, money is spent teaching them our language and helping them get work, just as it’s spent on Australians who can’t find a job through lack of skills or education.
And those who still cry foul… what would you do, honestly and truly, if your kids had to live in fear, if there ‘toys’ were pistols and grenades, if you mother/brother/husband was shot in front of you… would you wait years for ‘official’ help that may never come, hoping every day that your kids aren’t taken from you?
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Annie Also June 25, 2012
We were the ones who decided to go to their country to ‘fight’ for their ( Could people please learn the difference between ; their, there and they’re???) freedom. When their freedom means they are in danger and have to flee they have every right to believe those ‘fighting for their freedom’ come from a country who believe in freedom and choice.
Why is this so hard to comprehend ?
WE went to THEIR country so they have heard of Australia and think we care enough to fight for their country ..( of course it is much more complex then this and really we don’t CARE about them…our politicians -American/Australian et al care about power and control)..so they know we are ‘on their side’.
I agree with Wendy Green.Why is it whenever someone says;” I am not xenophobic or racist but….” I KNOW they are going to say something horrific and embarrassing to me as an Australian and as a member of the world’s human community.
Why (usually) young men on board?
Because the families left behind sell everything they can, band together and send off their capable, strong, young men who will be free to work hard and continue their families in freedom and choice. They usually are from patriachial nations so believe their young men are their future.I love what Eddie said.
Why can’t we learn from our patient, forgiving and accepting indigenous brothers and sisters. One of the quotes given to me by an Elder of my local indigenous community always returns to me;
“Why do you white fella’s always have to ‘understand’? Sometimes you know, it is good just to ACCEPT”.Well I think it is time we should accept that we don’t OWN Australia, we share it and it makes us a better peoples to accept others from all over the world who need to come here for a new life.
(Please stop the negative nasty comments, It depresses and demeans me and you and all of us.) -
Kerrie June 25, 2012
Well said Annie Also! You speak for me too.
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steven powell June 25, 2012
What a load of crap….. excuses excuses excuses… oh I stole bread from your shop and stole your car becasue my children needed to eat and I wanted to drive them to KFC….. a load of crap.
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Willow Jackson June 25, 2012
The fact that I was born in a safe, wealthy, democratic country like Australia was pure luck. I didn’t earn my citizenship. I didn’t have to fight for it. I just got plonked here. I’m grateful every day that in life’s lottery, I was born and raised in this beautiful country.
I am saddened to see the lack of compassion expressed by some people here.
Of course we need to protect ourselves from dangerous, unsuitable applicants but I wish we could all start from a place of compassion when we discuss this problem. Not everyone was born into safe, healthy or decent circumstances.
I suspect that much of the negativity expressed here about refugees is borne out of ignorance. If you knew where some of these people had come from, what dangers they were running from and what risks they had taken to just find somewhere safe, perhaps you wouldn’t be so hardline about refusing them safe haven.
Start with compassion. Build on that with knowledge and understanding. Then perhaps we can come up with a viable plan to deal with the problem.
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The Huntress June 25, 2012
Thank you, Hoopla, for standing up and putting up this article. As a nurse I have been priviliged to care for many refugees. I have worked hard to talk to these people, sometimes via translator, sometimes in English and sometimes just by signing my way through clumsily and just (hopefully) showing that I care. I recall many of these stories with pain in my heart and tears in my eyes. We are so fortunate in Australia that many of us can not even fathom what these people have been through.
I am happy to stand up and say if I faced the same plight as these people have done, I would have done exactly the same thing. If I knew I could give up everything I had for a chance to save the lives of my husband and son I would. As a country we should not be so hard to judge. Refugees are not here to steal our flat screen TV’s, they’re here because they need a safe roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Is it really too much for us to offer? I live in a very diverse area, socio-economically, culturally and ethically. My son goes to school with many refugee children. All in all it has been a great experience – my son has learned about compassion, empathy and that it’s ok to be different. We have so many different churches, temples and places of religious worship nearby (and I’m an atheist) and our neighbours come from so many different places I cannot keep up. I love the diversity my suburb reflects and I am glad that people have had the opportunity to escape such oppression and violence to find a safe home in this world.
Being such a wealthy nation I would like to think we could open our doors and share some of this wealth with others who have nothing. I do not understand what makes people so bitter to give help to the worlds most poor, vulnerable and violated people.
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Chris June 25, 2012
Just because someone gets in a boat [or puts their children in one] does not make them a refugee.
Just because someone has a horrible life in their home country does not make them a refugee.
Just because someone has suffered or is unemployed or poor o has little access to education does not make them a refugee.
Just because medical or other care in a home country is not on par with Australia does not make someone a refugee.If it were otherwise, the overwhelming majority of the worlds population would be entitled to enter Australia and live here.
Heart tugging stories about horrible lives in other countries elicit sympathy and in caring people, a genuine desire to do more to assist – BUT it will not trigger Australia’s obligation under the Refugee Convention unless the horrible circumstance constitutes persecution and unless that persecution is carried out for a Convention related reason. Only certain reasons are recognised as triggering Convention protections.
So – if someone lives in a horrible society where corruption is endemic and people get beaten or worse, if this happens to population randomly, and it not occurring to them in particular because of their race, their politics, their religion, etc as awful as we agree their lives are, Australia and other signatories to the UN Convention on refugees have no obligation to accept them as refugees and allow them to remain here. In fact, under the Migration Act and other legislation, it is the opposite – there is a positive obligation to remove such people from Australia poste haste if they arrived without legal entry documents and are not refugees.
No country in the world has borders that are so open that anyone who wishes can come and go as they please.
In much of the commentary about boat people, refugees, the Convention and so on, many fail to realise Australia – along with all other signatories to the Refugees Convention – do not have an open ended obligation to accept anyone who appears on Australian soil and calls themselves a refugee. We do however have an obligation to protect someone who arrives in this country – irrespective of mode of transport and level of documentation – if their claim to be a refugee are upheld.-
Sue June 28, 2012
Hear hear!
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MG June 25, 2012
The sad fact is that the problem is so huge and there is no simple solution. According to some stats that I have read, in 2011, there were 15.2 million refugees around the world.
The problem is that there are cruel, evil, greedy and power hungry leaders around the world that create the situations that force people to become refugees. All countries who are a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention should try and do their best and yes maybe they could do more, but it isn’t a simple process to resettle refugees in a new country. The process needs to ensure that the refugees have the best chance to start their new life in Australia and all these things take time and money.
It is easy to create an emotional documentary that presents the terrible plight that some of these people find themselves in. However, the people in this documentary are no more deserving than the millions of other refugees who are seeking asylum around the world.
Yes Australia should show compassion and support and welcome refugees, but the problem is too big for Australia to solve on its own. It is a situation that can’t be over simplified and there will continue to be many sad and depressing stories of refugees who don’t find a better life in another country. We should not forget this and it should be acknowledged, but there are also some inspirational and uplifting stories of refugees creating a new and wonderful life in Australia and these stories should be celebrated.
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Kerrie Lee June 25, 2012
Thank you, Hoopla, for giving this issue an airing. While acknowledging that everyone is entitled to an opinion, it wounds me deeply to read the vitriol which pours from some people as soon as asylum seekers are mentioned. I have dear friends – a family of 5 – whom I met when they were incarcerated for 3 1/2 years in Villawood detention centre. They fled religious persecution in their homeland. Far from being ‘bludgers’ and a burden on the state, the middle child finished her law degree last week, her older brother is in the final stages of engineering and the youngest is now at uni, after a bridging course at TAFE. Their mother, who was neither allowed to work nor go on to higher education in her home country, married at 17. She now happily works two jobs and has a wide circle of friends from many of the different communities which make up the Australian multicultural tapestry. The father has fared less well, having been emasculated by the detention experience. While he works when he can, he is immensely proud of his high-achieving family and never regrets making the hazardous journey to their new life – even though he suffered a near-fatal haemorrhage when they were dumped on a Darwin beach after 9 nightmarish days at sea. Do these people deserve to be here? You betcha.
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RobynMarie June 25, 2012
How about we all stop banging on about equal marriage rights and start talking about finding a solution to this problem? This a REAL problem! Get some celebrities on board with some designer tshirts, maybe the slogan could be ‘why?’ because I can’t believe that my beautiful country treats people in need so very badly.
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Enough June 25, 2012
Get celebrities on board?! Seriously? I think Australians are a little too educated to take anything a ‘celebrity’ says seriously! You mean like the ‘It’s Time’ campaign from the 1970s or the disastrous Carbon Cate propaganda? I think not. The great unwashed aren’t anywhere near as naive as the elites expect.
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Melita June 27, 2012
In my job, I sometimes have the privilege of working with people from refugee backgrounds. Some of them are “boat people” and some have come with refugee visas. If you meet these people, hear their stories, try to understand what they have endured, and see how hard they work and how committed they to making a life in this country, I asssure you most of us would be put to shame.
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Marnie June 28, 2012
The Govt plan to board refugees etc with every day Australians is a step in the right direction. Those that are most compassionate about ANY cause are those that have personal experience with it. By integrating displaced people in to the general population, more people will become aware of the problems faced by them and more will become compassionate instead of judging them from lofty heights.
Mothers the world over, will do ANYTHING to protect their children and that includes taking calculated risks.
Perhaps we should bring the mothers and young children over safely – care for them and leave the men there to follow the legal immigration route on their behalf. -
kelli June 29, 2012
i started sobbing before I watched and I still am. PLEASE, anyone who watched this, ring your TV stations and ask WHY!! This needs to be seen
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Jennie June 30, 2012
There is only ONE reason why Australia is swapped with “asylum seekers” it is because of the government free hand-outs. If Australia was to pass a new law where “new Australians” were denied social welfare benefits for at least 10 years. See how many would risk their lives and make that 9 day boat trip.
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Jennie June 30, 2012
ps. I’m disgusted by all these weak & pathetic people that support asylum seekers. For those that are so desperate and welcome all these muslim men into Australia — if you love them so much why don’t you take them into your home, pay their medical bills, grocery & support them with your own money instead of expecting the rest of Australia/tax payers to fork the bills.
Also, how do you know if they are really fleeing their country because of fear of being prosecuted? Some of those people could be terrorist……they’d bomb & kill your husband/wife, kids, grandparents, best friend, etc… Look at the US & UK they were too nice and let these so called asylum seekers into their country – look what happened with London bombings & September 11th.We should all vote for Abbott, follow Howards way & send all the boat people back to their country.
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Sue June 30, 2012
!!!!!!!!!
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Jessie Taylor July 16, 2012
Hi Jennie,
I have lived with a house full of asylum seekers & refugees for many years now.
It has only strengthened my views that they are worthwhile, hard working, deserving, courageous human beings.
Oh and not a single terrorist among them – imagine that!
You might find it beneficial to sit down and hear with your own ears what it’s like to see your parents slaughtered by Taliban before you rush to conclusions about who asylum seekers are and why they’ve come.
Jessie
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Don't be naive July 5, 2012
Do not repeat the mistakes other European countries made. Aussies are too nice.
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Rose July 13, 2012
I cannot fathom that after watching that video people are still selfish and uncompassionate. Australia takes very little refugees worldwide. I ask, please, get the facts straight before making up false stories. And watch that video again because it depicts the true and terrifying emotions asylum seekers feel. Just have a little compassion. People in Australia seem to have forgotten what that word means.
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Jeremy andrews August 19, 2012
Rose, I think it’s highly unlikely that those commentators have watched the documentary. It’s easier to take on and repeat the same tired prejudices. Jennie, the bombings in London and the planes hitting the World Trade Centre were nothing at all to do with asylum seekers – except that they’re fleeing that very kind of violence. The numbers killed in those two tragic events were still nothing compared to what their countries have suffered and are still suffering. They’re Individuals who mourn too.
