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Temporary

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

  • Sisonke Msimang, host of the podcast Temporary

    Episode 8: Left behind in a global pandemic

    During the pandemic, the federal government said we were ‘all in this together’ – but what about the refugees in Temporary?
  • Somalian-born Hani was banned from going to school by al-Shabaab.

    Part 7: Does Australia’s asylum seeker policy actually work?

    Back in 2013, the Australian government condemned 30,000 people seeking safety to mandatory detention and temporary protection, leaving thousands of people like Hani caught in the middle
  • Iranian born Yehye is one of the first people in the legacy caseload to have his temporary protection visa expire.

    Part 6: Stuck in an endless loop

    A father lives in anxious uncertainty, enduring an opaque reapplication process that could result in his being torn away from his family, who have received permanent protection in Australia
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    Part 5: When the answer is no

    Arman left Afghanistan as a teenager and has made a life for himself in Sydney, but now he faces an uncertain future
  • It’s been nine years since Kumar saw his wife and children back home in Sri Lanka

    Part 4: A lifetime locked in detention

    Every one of the 30,000 asylum seekers in Australia’s ‘legacy caseload’ was detained. The average time spent in detention is 564 days but some people have been detained for more than a decade. In this episode of Temporary, we meet Kumar, who was moved from detention centre to detention centre for over three years
  • Iranian-born Elaheh  and her son Ben

    Part 3: How do you say goodbye forever?

    When Elaheh suddenly had to flee Iran, she didn’t realise she might never see her family again. Now a recognised refugee in Australia, her visa’s restrictions dictate whether her young son will ever meet the women who raised her
  • Zaki, a refugee from Afghanistan seen in Canberra

    Part 2: No right to study, no right to work

    Labelled an ‘illegal maritime arrival’, how did Zaki negotiate hunger, the Sydney property market and a visa that wouldn’t let him work or study in Australia?
  • Young Vietnamese child holds up a sign, ‘Thank you Australia’

    Part 1: How Australia put 30,000 people in limbo

    In the first part of the Temporary podcast we meet Zaki, who fled a Taliban death warrant when he was a teenager to find somewhere safe. Instead, he found himself impounded in the politics of fear that Australian leaders have been stoking for decades
  • Iranian born Elaheh waited seven years for a temporary protection visa. Despite being born in Australia, Elaheh’s son Ben is on temporary protection

    A legal limbo without end: the people who came by boat but never found home in Australia

    In a new audio series, we speak to the asylum seekers who have lived as temporary residents in Australia for years while the government refuses them permanent protection
  • Temporary podcast logo rectangle

    Introducing Temporary

    The stories of people seeking asylum are supposed to end. But in Australia, people who arrive by boat are seldom able to finish their story. This new eight-part narrative podcast reveals the stories of refugees trapped in a cycle of uncertainty