By Amari Leiva-Urzua
Australia is in the midst of a political migration chaos with Labor’s Deportation and Entry Ban Bill sparking controversy in the Senate. Since Immigration minister Andrew Giles presented the bill on March 27, it has seen the Labor Party split in half and the Greens unexpectedly siding with Liberals’ call for amendments to be made.
But, in the eye of this political firestorm lies the voices of refugee communities who have been plunged into uncertainty and will be the ones directly impacted if the bill were to be enacted.
It is with these voices that ABC digital journalist Annika Burgess has managed to break through the political bickering and put into focus the social impacts of the bill for young people within these refugee communities.
In doing so she reminds us of journalism’s never-ending endeavour to bridge the gap between the government and the public, especially as many question whether the government has become out of touch with its migrant community.
Burgess’s article was published four days before the bill was scheduled to reappear in the Senate after an inquiry recommended that the bill was to pass to a vote but with a consideration of potential community impacts.
To produce her article, Burgess gathered 16 young people from refugee families across Australia who would be directly impacted by the bill and distilled their sense of “unified fear and frustration” at facing the risk of being deported to a country they did not know.
“There was a lot of them who very much shared the experience of living here since they were very young and 11 years later now being of an age where they should be heading off to university, and thinking they should have the same opportunities because they’ve grown up in the same way as their classmates, they’re unable to,” said Burgess.
The bill has dredged up years of migration policy debates, the highlight being the “fast-track” process which many experts consider the crux of the issue.
And, with many sides to the story, these articles have become vital in securing an open line of communication between the government and the public hoping to inform and inspire reflection.
Burgess sought to recognise the volume and importance of the migrant community to Australia’s multicultural landscape through her article which has been shared by many organisations including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
“I hoped to be able to give a more human angle to these stories which can sometimes be quite complex to understand, show people the face and the experience of who this is going to affect,” Burgess said.
“Australia is very diverse…and it was very important to show the wide impact to people across Australia and that it’s not only newly arrived migrants that are being affected.”
Nevertheless, when reporting on sensitive news issues such as this, ethical considerations and guidelines come into place with many organisations such as the ABC having editorial policies and layers of fact-checking and guidelines to avoid miscommunications.
Burgess acknowledges her responsibility as a journalist.
“It’s your job to give everyone their side of the story, you take your opinions out of it, and you make sure that you get information from every side. Then you break down the confusion and the jargon, getting stories across in a way that resonates with people.”
As a digital reporter, she is immersed in a world where bias and miscommunication has a broader platform than ever before, social media.
“Real-time journalism even with the conflicts in Ukraine, now in Gaza, the volumes of information that is being generated constantly is so immense, obviously that comes with opportunities and challenges,” she said.
However, she cannot deny how the increased accessibility to news, information and technology has seen journalism evolve and grow in its ability to communicate stories.
Burgess has been so inspired by young people’s protests against the bill outside the Minister’s office, online and their social media campaigns, that she made every effort to ensure their voices were represented, adding a quote carousel in her story to capture all the 16 voices she talked with.
In today’s age, where public political participation has become so extensive, journalism has had to keep adapting to mediate, clarify and create communications between the government and the community.
You can read Burgess’s full article here and more updates about the bill on ABC News.
Featured image: ABC journalist Annika Burgess and her article. Photo: Annika Burgess, edited by Amari Leiva-Urzua
