When Kurdish-Iranian journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani arrived in Canberra on Thursday, he was invited to parliament's last sitting day of the year. He refused.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
"I'm not going to go [to parliament] and look at these politicians. In a better world I should speak there, not go there and look at them," he said.
Mr Boochani's award-winning 2018 book No Friend But the Mountains, revealed his journey as a refugee to Christmas Island and incarceration on Manus Island for 2269 days.
Since being granted refugee status in New Zealand, Mr Boochani has promoted his latest book Freedom, Only Freedom in the city and country former home affairs minister Peter Dutton once said he "wouldn't be permitted to come to".
"Canberra for me is a place of power, that power comes from here and so my feeling towards Canberra is very different ... my anger comes from here," Mr Boochani said.
While Mr Boochani felt an anger to the capital, he and "all of the refugees" have been "watching this parliament and politicians for many years" and closely following the laws that have been passed.
"When I was on Manus Island, of course I had the image about Australia ... so parliament was a very big element in my mind ... that is quite incredible that now I'm here," he said.
"Hopefully on February, I come here again and meet with some politicians and sit down with some politicians and do something."
The recent change in government was something that gave Mr Boochani new hope, however he said it was quickly lost.
"I think Labor betrayed many people who voted for them ... because they thought that it would be some change for refugees and Labor will do better," he said.
"But in fact, nothing really changed in this country in terms of refugees."
Mr Boochani described the release of the Biloela family as "propaganda" and "advertisement" for the Labor party while arguing they continued to fail supporting refugees.
"They released them from the detention, they took photo and it was like a national celebration and they look at it as an achievement but they are only just few people, what about others," he said.
Some of the "others" have been extensively written about in Mr Boochani's new book as it consists of essays from himself while in and out of detention, journalists and other important figures.
In one essay, Mr Boochani introduced Alex, an Iranian gay refugee who shouted "I am gay" after being told homosexuality was illegal.
READ MORE:
"Being gay in that system, in that place, you are like marginalised among marginalised people ... you experience double suffering or violence," Mr Boochani said.
The book was translated and edited by Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi, two people Mr Boochani considered crucial to his account.
In the introduction written by Mr Tofighian, he described Mr Boochani's journalism as an "anti-genre" as the writing defied traditional structures.
"For me, I think I've been trying to use different, multiple language in my work, especially in my journalism work, so I didn't want to follow the current journalism language," Mr Boochani said.
"I wanted to do it in my own way, create a language or use a language to represent the situation and represent our stories."
As Mr Boochani finished his book tour, he reflected on how he has not allowed the Australian refugee system suppress his spirit.
Olivia Ireland
Olivia is a reporter for the Canberra Times. She has covered federal politics and public sector, court and crime, local news, arts, education and business. Olivia started as an intern in August 2021 and began her career with the Times after completing her studies in November 2021.
Olivia is a reporter for the Canberra Times. She has covered federal politics and public sector, court and crime, local news, arts, education and business. Olivia started as an intern in August 2021 and began her career with the Times after completing her studies in November 2021.
