Temporary

4.8 (51)
POLITICS

Caught in Australia’s campaign to ‘stop the boats’ were 30,000 people who landed, only to enter a legal limbo. Temporary is an eight-part podcast series that showcases stories from those seeking asylum in Australia

16/04/2021

Episode 8: Left behind in a global pandemic

The pandemic put everyone in limbo. For the first time, many Australians understood what it meant to be stranded, unable to cross borders, separated from loved ones. The federal government said we were ‘all in this together’ – but what about the refugees in Temporary? And what’s ahead for them? Sisonke Msimang interviews Sarah Dale, the director of the Refugee Advice and Casework Service, to find out

19 min
17/12/2020

Part 7: Does Australia’s asylum seeker policy actually work?

In part 7 of Temporary we meet Hani. Back in 2013, with Operation Sovereign Borders, the Australian government launched an outright war on asylum seekers, condemning 30,000 people seeking safety to mandatory detention and temporary protection, leaving thousands of people like Hani, a young poet from Somalia, caught in the middle. Years after the harsh deterrence policies were implemented, we ask: have they actually worked?

22 min
14/12/2020

Part 6: Stuck in an endless loop

One family. All devout pacifists, they all fled the same dangers and all of them are recognised refugees in Australia. The mother and children were resettled from overseas and now have permanent protection. But their father arrived by boat. He lives in anxious uncertainty, enduring an opaque reapplication process that could result in his being torn away from them

22 min
09/12/2020

Part 5: When the answer is no

In part 5 of Temporary we meet Arman, whose claim for asylum was rejected because the Australian government thought it was safe for him to return to Afghanistan. This is no longer the government’s view, yet due to the way the appeal system works, the decision still stands – and Arman has nowhere to turn. His only chance to stay in Australia is if Peter Dutton personally intervenes

27 min
05/12/2020

Part 4: A lifetime locked in detention

Every one of the 30,000 asylum seekers in Australia’s ‘legacy caseload’ was detained. The average time spent in detention is 564 days but some people have been detained for more than a decade. In this episode of Temporary, we meet Kumar, who was moved from detention centre to detention centre for over three years

27 min
02/12/2020

Part 3: How do you say goodbye forever?

In part three of the Temporary podcast we meet Elaheh, who had to suddenly flee Iran, not realising she might never see her family again. Now a recognised refugee in Australia with a young son, her visa’s restrictions dictate whether her son will ever meet the strong women who raised her

25 min
25/11/2020

Part 1: How Australia put 30,000 people in limbo

In the first part of the Temporary podcast we meet Zaki, who fled a Taliban death warrant when he was a teenager to find somewhere safe. Instead, he found himself impounded in the politics of fear that Australian leaders have been stoking for decades. He is one of 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the ‘legacy caseload’, kept silent by a system that holds permanent protection out of reach. We know the stories of Manus Island and Nauru, but what about the people stuck here in our midst? Part 2: No right to study, no right to work A legal limbo without end: the people who came by boat but never found home in Australia

29 min
25/11/2020

Part 2: No right to study, no right to work

In episode two of Temporary we continue Zaki’s story. Labelled an ‘illegal maritime arrival’, how did he negotiate hunger, the Sydney property market and a visa that wouldn’t let him work or study in Australia to become an award-winning student? Part 1: How Australia put 30,000 people in limbo A legal limbo without end: the people who came by boat but never found home in Australia

24 min
18/11/2020

Introducing Temporary

The stories of people seeking asylum are supposed to end. But in Australia, people who arrive by boat are seldom able to finish their story. This new eight-part narrative podcast reveals the stories of refugees trapped in a cycle of uncertainty

3 min

9 Episodes

Sisonke Msimang

Host

4.8

out of 5

51 Ratings

ssoxx

17/03/2021

ssassysophia

a must listen podcast for every Australian. I’m sorry to all refugees and asylum seekers on behalf of Australia. This is not good enough.
A must listen

20/02/2021

camischippa

A very well done Podcast, every Australian should have to listen to to understand what this country is doing to people fleeing war and persecution. Highly recommended.
Highly recommended listening

11/12/2020

fiehkiyrfh

Great podcast, steps out Australian immigration policies and the cruel impact of these policies on the lives of refugees in Australia. Highly recommended listening for those wanting a factual understanding of the lives of refugees on temporary visas.
Clear and heartbreaking

02/12/2020

LillienneT

This podcast gives you such a clear understanding on the history of immigration policy in Australia and then tells you straight from the source what that looks like in real life. It’s heartbreaking to listen to but has allowed me to start this conversation with others and start asking what I can do to help.

Caught in Australia’s campaign to ‘stop the boats’ were 30,000 people who landed, only to enter a legal limbo. Temporary is an eight-part podcast series that showcases stories from those seeking asylum in Australia