Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip presents an interpretation of the Howard government’s response to the arrival of refugees in Australian waters on the MV Tampa in August 2001. The narration states that John Howard had often used scare tactics for his political advantage and that the refugees were now to be used in a ‘race election’. Views defending the refugees are juxtaposed with images of troops. Scenes of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York dramatise the narration, which states that the government used fear of terrorism to override international law and civil rights.

Educational value points

• This clip from a polemical documentary represents the then prime minister, John Howard (1939–), as a cynical politician who used the rescue of asylum seekers by the Tampa and the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York to create fear, undermine the rule of law and secure a win in the November 2001 election. The clip suggests that the Howard government used the crises as an excuse to create the so-called ‘Pacific Solution’, which it claims denied asylum seekers their rights under international law.

• The Norwegian cargo ship MV Tampa, seen towards the start of the clip, rescued 438 people from a sinking boat on 26 August 2001, but the Howard government refused the Tampa permission to dock at Christmas Island. By 29 August the desperation of the passengers led the captain to attempt to land under conditions of emergency but the government sent SAS troops to board the ship and prevent it from landing.

• Howard succeeded in winning a third term in office in November 2001, partly as a result of his government’s actions over the Tampa asylum seekers. Earlier in 2001 opinion polls had shown that Labor was the preferred governing party but, by September, polls showed that 90 per cent of Australians supported the Howard government’s refusal to allow the Tampa refugees to land on Australian soil. Support for the government also increased after the September 11 attacks.

• In introducing the so-called ‘Pacific Solution’ the Liberal-Nationals coalition government argued that tough measures were necessary to protect Australia from increasing numbers of asylum seekers, who it regarded as being illegal and a potential threat. The legislation, passed on 26 September 2001, excised many islands from Australia’s immigration zone, including Christmas Island. This meant that an asylum seeker had to reach the Australian mainland to have grounds for applying for refugee status.

• While the Government’s actions were overwhelmingly supported by public opinion at the time, the clip presents the view that these actions were not legal. Julian Burnside, QC (1949–) condemns the ‘Pacific Solution’ legislation as being a clear-cut infringement of international law, and another lawyer sees it as being undemocratic. Nevertheless, the Federal Court had validated the ‘Pacific Solution’, requiring offshore processing of asylum seekers.

• The clip demonstrates some of the features of polemical filmmaking, in which the filmmakers feel passionately about the issue being depicted. In this case no attempt is made to present the case for the Howard government, the narration puts its views strongly and the use of dramatic footage heightens the sense of crisis, reinforcing the filmmakers’ view that these events marked a serious attack on civil liberties and democratic processes.