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.
Explore all eight episodes of the podcast below.
Episode 1: A limbo of Australia's own making
In the first episode of Temporary – a narrative podcast from UNSW and Guardian Australia – we meet Zaki, who fled a Taliban death warrant.
Listen to the first episode
Episode 2: No right to work, no right to study
In episode 2 of Temporary, hear how Zaki negotiated hunger, renting in Sydney, and a restrictive visa, to become an award-winning student who still isn’t allowed to call himself Australian.
Hear Zaki's story
Episode 3: How do you say goodbye forever?
When Elaheh suddenly had to flee Iran, she didn’t realise what was next – or that she might never see her family again.
Hear Elaheh’s story
Episode 4: A lifetime locked in detention
The average time asylum seekers spend in Australian detention is 564 days. Kumar shares his story of being locked up for years without committing a crime. Hosted by Sisonke Msimang.
Hear Kumar’s story
Episode 5: When the answer is no
Listen to Arman share with Sisonke Msimang how he learned that, when you’re seeking asylum in Australia, there are no safety nets.
Hear Arman's story
Episode 6: Stuck in an endless loop
In this episode, Sisonke Msimang meets a father who lives in anxious uncertainty, enduring an opaque re-application process that could result in his being torn away from the family he sought to save.
Hear Yehye’s story
Episode 7: Does Australia’s asylum seeker policy actually work?
With Operation Sovereign Borders, the Australian government in 2013 began a war on people-smugglers, and people seeing asylum, that is still going. Host Sisonke Msimang hears how Hani got caught in the middle.
Hear Hani’s storyEpisode 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?
Listen to the latest episode