Take your ears, put them in a scuba suit, and throw them in the deep end. Beneath the waves there’s a whole world waiting for you. Immerse yourself in New Atlantis, a festival of new and experimental sound.  

A new government always marks a turning point. But will Labor’s election change Australian refugee policies – and if so, how? Where do principles and politics collide? And how will that affect the lives of people who need our protection?

Lawyer and former refugee Nyadol Nyuon OAM sits down with the Federal Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon. Andrew Giles, for a conversation about protection principles and policies in Australia.

The border – the place physically crossed in the search for refuge and asylum – appears at first as a single location and moment.  And yet ‘borders’ are made and remade through policies, institutions, international and national laws, and conceptions of rights. These, in turn, are founded on specific understandings of ethics and of the human, on historical contingencies, settlements and accidents. Borders can be openings, or they can act as hard limits. 

How can we create a more constructive public conversation about refugees?

As politics steers to the extremes, who’s seizing the moment and the messages about refugees – and how? Have we passed peak xenophobia? Will new voices be heard? Do stories – and the way we tell them – make a difference in today’s fractured information landscape?