Go Back to Where You Came From | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ivan O'Mahoney |
Presented by | Dr David Corlett |
Narrated by | Colin Friels |
Theme music composer | Hans Baker |
Composer | Gordon Wittoch |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Peter Newman, John Godfrey, Michael Cordell, Nick Murray |
Producer | Rick McPhee |
Cinematography | Ben Foley, Mark Hooper, Nick McInerney |
Editor | Tomas O'Brien |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Cordell Jigsaw Productions |
Original release | |
Network | SBS TV |
Release | 21 June 2011 – 4 October 2018 |
Go Back to Where You Came From is an Australian TV documentary series. It was produced by Cordell Jigsaw Productions and broadcast in 2011 (Season 1), 2012 (Season 2), 2015 (Season 3) and 2018 (Season 4) on SBS.
The series followed two parties, each of six Australians, all members having differing opinions on Australia's asylum seeker debate, being taken on a journey in reverse to that which refugees have taken to reach Australia.
The six Australian participants were Gleny Rae, Adam Hartup, Raquel Moore, Darren Hassan, Raye Colbey, and Roderick Schneider. Deprived of their wallets, phones and passports, they board a leaky refugee boat (from which they are rescued mid-ocean), experience immigration raids in Malaysia, live in Kakuma Refugee Camp in far north-west Kenya, visit slums in Jordan before ultimately making it to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq, protected by UN Peacekeepers and the US military. [1] In the final episode, the participants are debriefed for their response to the experiences.
The celebrity participants for the 2012 season were Peter Reith, Angry Anderson, Allan Asher, Catherine Deveny, Mike Smith and Imogen Bailey. [2] The participants were placed on a rickety boat bound for Christmas Island. [3]
Over three episodes, the six Australians also experienced mortal danger on the streets of the world's deadliest cities – from the sweltering, war-torn capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, to the riotous streets of Kabul, freezing amidst the mountains of Afghanistan. They also travelled to the Christmas Island Detention Centre. [4]
The six participants for the 2015 season were Davy (former refugee), Kim ('Stop the Boats' Facebook campaigner), Nicole Judge [5] (detention centre whistle blower), Jodi and Renee (sisters with opposing views) and Andrew (a tough-talking school teacher). [6]
Three episodes were shown on 2–4 October 2018, including live crosses to the participants as events unfolded. The episodes were hosted from a studio with hosts Ray Martin and Janice Petersen. Participants included Jacqui Lambie, Marina (Sydney lawyer and former refugee from Sarajevo), Steve (former prison guard from Adelaide), Gretel Killeen, Peter Everitt and Meshel Laurie. [7]
On its premiere night, the series became the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide. [8]
Go Back To Where You Came From's viewing figures made it the highest-rating programme for SBS in 2011. An estimated 524,000 metropolitan viewers watched the first episode, followed by 569,000 for the second and 600,000 for the third. [9]
The broadcaster subsequently held a televised forum event to reflect on the series and the public debate about asylum seekers. [10]
In 2019, TV Week listed Go Back to Where You Came From at No. 94 in its list of the 101 greatest Australian television shows of all time, which appeared in its monthly TV Week Close Up publication. [11] The magazine recognised the show for introducing Australian audiences to powerful, immersive television during the heat of the asylum seeker debate, and for its achievement in being the top trend on Twitter internationally when it debuted. [11]
This article is missing information about full details of all episodes.(December 2018) |
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The series has had international versions after the concept was sold to the following countries:
Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson is an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. He has been the lead vocalist and the last remaining original member of the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976. As a solo artist, he is best known for his international hit "Suddenly" (1987).
In late August 2001, the Howard government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 433 rescued refugees and 5 crew, to enter Australian waters. This triggered an Australian political controversy in the lead-up to the 2001 federal election, and a diplomatic dispute between Australia and Norway.
The Pacific Solution is the name given to the government of Australia's policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland. Initially implemented from 2001 to 2007, it had bipartisan support from the Coalition and Labor opposition at the time. The Pacific Solution consisted of three central strategies:
Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia, including the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Such facilities also exist in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, namely the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and the Manus Regional Processing Centre.
Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, originally Villawood Migrant Hostel or Villawood Migrant Centre, split into a separate section named Westbridge Migrant Hostel from 1968 to 1984, is an Australian immigration detention facility located in the suburb of Villawood in Sydney, Australia.
The Nauru Regional Processing Centre is an offshore Australian immigration detention facility in use from 2001 to 2008, from 2012 to 2019, and from September 2021. It is located on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru and run by the Government of Nauru. The use of immigration detention facilities is part of a policy of mandatory detention in Australia.
Many of the Vietnamese people in Hong Kong immigrated as a result of the Vietnam War and persecution since the mid-1970s.
Refugees in New Zealand have two main pathways for gaining protection in the country. Asylum seekers may seek protection after arrival in New Zealand. Refugees may also be resettled from offshore through New Zealand's Refugee Quota Programme. In 2017/18 a community sponsorship pathway was trialled, extended from 2021.
The Australian government has a policy and practice of detaining in immigration detention facilities non-citizens not holding a valid visa, suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in immigration detention until a decision is made by the immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of origin/passport. Persons in immigration detention may at any time opt to voluntarily leave Australia for their country of origin, or they may be deported or given a bridging or temporary visa. In 1992, Australia adopted a mandatory detention policy obliging the government to detain all persons entering or being in the country without a valid visa, while their claim to remain in Australia is processed and security and health checks undertaken. Also, at the same time, the law was changed to permit indefinite detention, from the previous limit of 273 days. The policy was instituted by the Keating government in 1992, and was varied by the subsequent Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison and Albanese Governments. The policy is regarded as controversial and has been criticised by a number of organisations. In 2004, the High Court of Australia confirmed the constitutionality of indefinite mandatory detention of non-citizens in Al-Kateb v Godwin. However, this interpretation was overturned in a landmark decision, NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, in 2023, with the High Court concluding the practice was unlawful and unconstitutional.
North West Point Immigration Detention Centre, formerly Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre is an Australian immigration detention facility located on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
Vietnamese boat people were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the early 1990s. The term is also often used generically to refer to the Vietnamese people who left their country in a mass exodus between 1975 and 1995. This article uses the term "boat people" to apply only to those who fled Vietnam by sea.
On 15 December 2010, an Indonesian fishing boat carrying 89 asylum seekers and 3 crew members sank after being dashed against the rocks near Rocky Point, Christmas Island, an external Australian territory. 50 people died and 42 were rescued. The incident was the worst civilian maritime disaster in Australia in more than a century.
Somali Australians are citizens and residents of Australia who are of Somali ancestry.
Ranjini is a Sri Lankan refugee to Australia since 2010, who has been held in indefinite detention with her children since 2012 due to a negative assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), while at the same time a recognised refugee. Ranjini's story gained increased media attention since she was detained with her small children. Her case has raised questions about the ASIO's assessment process. It also highlighted the issue of mandatory detention in Australia, and in particular the issue of children living in detention.
Plaintiff M70 is a decision by the High Court of Australia. The lawsuit concerned an injunction sought by multiple Afghan asylum seekers against immigration minister Chris Bowen. The injunction was to prevent Bowen from deporting the plaintiffs to Malaysia, pursuant to s198A of the Migration Act. The purpose of the deportation was to avoid their asylum application from being assessed by Australia.
Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945, when half a million Europeans displaced by World War II were given asylum. Since then, there have been periodic waves of asylum seekers from South East Asia and the Middle East, with government policy and public opinion changing over the years.
Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Border Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 federal election policy of the Coalition, which commenced on 18 September 2013 after the election of the Abbott government. The operation has implemented a "zero tolerance" posture towards what it has termed "Illegal Maritime Arrivals" − a change in terminology from the previous government's "Irregular Maritime Arrivals" − in Australia, in conjunction with mandatory detention in offshore detention facilities.
The Manus Regional Processing Centre, or Manus Island Regional Processing Centre (MIRCP), was one of a number of offshore Australian immigration detention facilities. The centre was located on the PNG Navy Base Lombrum on Los Negros Island in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.
Munjed Al Muderis is an Australian adjunct clinical professor in orthopaedic surgery, author and human rights activist. He has done pioneering work on prosthetics, especially on titanium devices.
The Murugappan family, also known as the Nadesalingam family, consists of Nadesalingam Murugappan (Nades), his wife Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam (Priya) and their two daughters. They are Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum in Australia. The couple married in Australia after arriving separately on people smuggler boats; their children were subsequently born in Australia. Until their detention by the Australian Border Force in March 2018, the family, which was resident in the central Queensland town of Biloela, was consequently referred to as the Biloela family by some media. The cause of the couple and their children has been supported by some residents of Biloela as well as asylum-seeker advocates. The Australian federal government of the time assessed them not to be refugees and, consequently, detained and sought to remove them.