Performing refugee policy in politics and theatre

Abstract

This essay provides a brief account of selected performances of Australian refugee policy in the domains of politics and theatre. In the domain of politics, it considers rhetorical performances by government ministers and military personnel in relation to the so-called ‘children overboard’ scandal of 2001, and the scandal's parliamentary investigation of 2002, the Senate Select Committee on A Certain Maritime Incident. In particular, I examine the rhetoric of ‘professionalism’ in the testimony of Rear Admiral Smith to the Committee. The essay then moves to a discussion of the re-presentation of these policy performances in the domain of theatre, examining Sydney-based performance group version 1.0's 2004 production, CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident), a performance that took as its primary source material transcripts of the Senate Select Committee.

Keywords:

• political theatre
• refugee policy
• politics
• ‘children overboard’
• Australia
• version 1.0

Notes

1. For a fuller discussion of the ‘children overboard’ scandal and the Committee's inquiry into this event, see Marr and Wilkinson (2003) and Weller (2002).

2. Rear Admiral Smith appeared before the Committee for three consecutive hearing days on 4, 5, and 11 April 2002.

3. The primary period of activity for Operation Relex was October and December 2001, during which Australian naval vessels encountered 12 SIEVs (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels).

4. These acronyms signify ‘Suspected Unauthorised Non Citizens’, ‘Unauthorised Boat Arrivals’, ‘Potential Unauthorised Arrivals’, and ‘Potential Illegal Immigrants’ respectively.

5. For example, Sidetrack's Citizen X (2002) or Company B's In Our Name (2004).

6. Asylum seekers held in detention offshore in Nauru and Manus Island were invited to give testimony via radiotelephone, but after advice from the Department of Immigration that it could not guarantee that testimony would not adversely affect individual claims for asylum, they unsurprisingly declined the offer. Parliamentary privilege, a legal convention that protects witnesses before Senate Committees from any adverse consequences that might arise from their testimony, only functions when witnesses are physically present.

7. More information about SIEV X can be found in Kevin (2004) and online at http://www.sievx.com.