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Private Notes
The road to acceptance hasn't been easy for the Australian gay community but despite strong opposition to their cause, gay Australians have fought for and won the same rights as everyone else, except for one… the right to get married. Gregory and Michael are gay activists, atheists and engaged to be married. David is a husband, a father of three and a conservative Anglican minister who believes sexually-active gay people do not have the right to marry. Gregory and Michael stay with David for the first five days of the experiment, and they’re in for a series of surprises starting with being banished to sleep in a caravan rather than under the same roof as David’s children and ending with the discovery that David has a genetically identical twin brother who used to be gay. Then the experiment swaps and David attends Greg and Michael’s wedding in New Zealand before marching in Melbourne’s Gay Pride parade.
In the last twenty years, sixty thousand ‘boat people’ have arrived in Australia. How we deal with them when they get here continues to polarise public opinion. Morteza is a 30 year-old, former ‘boat person’ who landed on Christmas Island after fleeing Iran. He spent four uncertain years in detention during which he converted to Christianity, escaped from Woomera Detention Centre, sparked the riot that burned down the Port Hedland Detention Centre, and famously sewed his lips together in the Villawood Detention Centre. He is exactly the sort of asylum seeker Jenni from Queensland says should not be allowed to stay in Australia. However, Jenni had never met a ‘boat person’ until she met Morte. Living in each other’s worlds is an explosive and emotionally draining experience for both of them. However, neither Jenni nor Morte, could have predicted the way the experiment would end.
Twenty thousand Sudanese refugees have recently arrived in Australia. Some have arrived after years, even decades, in refugee camps, and as the community has grown, so has the discrimination and racism. When Abraham arrived in Australia he knew two words in English, ‘yes’ and ‘no’, and he consistently confused the two of them. He is now the Slam Poet Champion of Victoria and recently came third in the national titles. He is also about to have his second book published and perform at the Glastonbury festival. However, he still can’t get a job, is subjected to daily racism and won’t travel on the train after dark. Nick is the founder of a fledgling political party who says allowing Africans like Abraham into Australia is asking for trouble. He believes they can’t assimilate, are a welfare drain on the economy and have nothing to contribute to a society built on Anglo-Celtic foundations. This is one of the most explosive and moving episodes in the series.
Since September 11 2001, the Islamic community in Australia has received considerable media attention, generating fear and mistrust. Is that fear and mistrust well placed? Or are the majority being condemned by the actions of the few? Almost half the Muslims in Australia live in south-western Sydney. The majority in just five suburbs centred around Bankstown. Ben was born and bred in Bankstown, he’s seen his world change as Arab Muslims have stamped their identity on his home suburb, and he doesn’t like what he sees. Ahmed and Lydia are a devout Muslim couple living in western Sydney. Ahmed is from Egypt, Lydia is a convert who grew up in a country pub. Lydia converted in the wake of the September 11 attacks after enrolling in a course on Islam to better understand the religion and the motivation for the terror attacks. She wanted to find out why they had happened, and what motivated the hijackers. Instead of discovering a religion of hate and war, she says, she discovered a religion of peace and justice. Ben believes there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. Can Lydia and Ahmed convince him otherwise?
For fifty years marijuana has been Australia’s most popular illegal drug; seven million of us have tried it, and more than two-and-a-half million smoke it every day. Michael is Australia’s biggest public advocate for smoking Marijuana. He is ambassador for life at Nimbin’s Hemp Embassy, co-creator of Australia’s annual celebration of all things cannabis, Mardi Grass, a foundation member of the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) political party, and a man who has smoked his own body weight in marijuana over the course of his lifetime. Kerryn is a former drug user who is now a passionate school drug and alcohol awareness educator and published author on the topic. Kerryn believes marijuana is the potential gateway to a lifetime of addiction and ruin. Michael introduces her to maverick marijuana growers, to people who smoke it recreationally, and epileptics who use it medicinally. Kerryn introduces him to doctors who have proved its negative effect on the brain and parents who have lost children and family members to the drug.
There are nearly one million hunters in Australia and between them they own nearly three-and-a-half million guns. Are hunters “blood-thirsty, serial-killing, gun nuts”? Or are they outdoors people with a deep, abiding love for the bush who help keep wildlife in check and eradicate pests? Steve owns nearly three hundred guns. He thinks animals have a right to life and humans have the right to shoot them. He has shot seventy pigs in one day. Felicity is a vegan and an animal liberationist. She is so committed to the cause she even lives at Animal Liberation Victoria’s headquarters. This is where Steve spends the first half of the experiment, going on a duck hunting protest and meeting animals Felicity has ‘liberated’ from battery farms. The second half of the experiment takes place at Steve’s in central western NSW where Felicity goes on her first-ever pig hunt with Robert Borsak, head of the NSW Shooters and Fishers Party.
