Marr says in the film: It’s the world’s apology to the Jewish people for World War II. Australia was one of the early signatories – we couldn’t get in fast enough to sign it in the 50s. And we 100 per cent do not adhere to it now.” Clearly astounded by the absence of compassion that now characterises Australia’s attitude towards people seeking asylum on our shores, Orner says, “All of this started in 2001 when a group of Afghan Hazaras came to Australia by boat and John Howard wouldn’t let them in - they ended up on Nauru and shortly after Manus was opened.”
places, until you see them for yourself, you don’t fully understand how bad the situation could really be. I wanted to show that as well. And I think we have - I think that’s what’s shocking people.” Orner hopes that Chasing Asylum will counteract the divisive misinformation that has swayed public opinion and start to fill in some of the gaps in awareness that Australia’s secretive policies have caused. “There’s a lot of fatigue and people are exhausted by this [issue] - because it has been going on for a long time.
“ To me, the Refugee Convention has always been incredibly important because it comes out of the Holocaust ”
a frugal documentarian so I wasn’t going to waste $8000. You can go to Manus - but if you get anywhere near the perimeter of the camp, chances are that you’ll get beaten up and have your camera smashed.” The nature of secret footage is that it has to remain secret. However, the bigger issue here is that we are a democracy, and we have had a policy, on and off for fifteen years, that prevents us from knowing exactly what our policies are.
“I felt like people weren’t compassionate enough, they weren’t engaging with this issue. No matter how much is written about these
But the only way we can change this, because our two major parties have the same policy, is if we all stand up. And the only way we can all stand up is if we all know about it.” “It’s a particularly difficult time in the world,” she concedes. “I’m not being ‘Pollyanna’ about this – there are 60 million displaced people in the world, the most since the end of World War II. It’s not an easy solution. However, we’re not doing enough. We need to be doing more. We need to up our refugee intake. No one’s saying let everybody in. We can’t solve the world’s refugee crisis - but we can certainly do better.”
AM-UNITY MAG - EDITION 7
The injustice of Australia’s offshore detention policies strikes a particularly personal chord with Orner. “My parents were born in 1937 in Poland, Jewish, so they were babies of the war,” she explains. “Three of my four grandparents died in the Holocaust and out of two really big families, less than a handful survived. My parents came here in the 50s as immigrants, and I had this lovely, middleclass Australian upbringing - living in a democracy; free, great education; and aware that bad things happen to good people, growing up in the shadow of genocide.”
As an Australian living abroad in America, Orner watched on in horror as Australia’s already harsh policy stance towards people seeking asylum become even more callous. “In 2013 when Abbott was elected and the boat tow-backs started, the rhetoric started getting worse,” she said. “People didn’t seem to understand what was happening. There seemed to be a lot of confusion and I thought that maybe I could create a documentary that would hopefully be seen widely and give people a clearer understanding of what’s happening.”
“To me, the Refugee Convention has always been incredibly important because it comes out of the Holocaust,” she continues. “As David 20