When Aran Mylvaganam was just 11 years old, the Sri Lankan military bombed his school in the 1995 Nargar Kovil school massacre.
His brother was killed in the bombing, with reports of the number of children killed varying from 26 to 70.
A year later, Mr Mylvaganam came to Australia to seek asylum and was detained in Sydney’s Villawood detention centre for three months.
Mr Mylvaganam said he and Australia’s Tamil community are “outraged” and “hurt” by a government campaign dissuading Sri Lankans from seeking asylum in Australia by boat.
“They shouldn't be belittling our struggle,” he told SBS News.
“Australian government campaigns like this send the wrong message to the Sri Lankan government. It tells them that they can commit all sorts of atrocities against the Tamil people and nobody would care.”
The campaign includes a website and a film competition that calls for “budding Sri Lankan filmmakers” to submit “creative” expressions of illegal migration showcasing “there is zero chance" of travelling to Australia by boat.
Aran Mylvaganam, spokesman for the Tamil Refugee Council. Source: SBS News
Films must be based on 'Illegal migration to Australia', according to the website, and touch upon; “getting caught by people smugglers, risking your life in the rough seas, the effect on the lives of families [and] loved ones and issues faced after being sent back to Sri Lanka.”
The competition offers entrants the chance to win a Canon 90D DSLR camera with a 18/135mm lens ($2,100) and DJI RSC 2 Gimbal stabiliser ($700), a DJI Mavic air 2 drone ($1,499) and GoPro Hero 10 ($749) - adding up to roughly $5,048. (Prices are those advertised by Australian retailers at the time of writing).
Submissions will be judged by an expert panel, with organisers having sole rights to the films once they are submitted.
A contract seen by SBS News on AusTender shows the government has spent more than $4.1 million on "Illegal Maritime Arrival Education Services" between 2011 and June 2021.
Figures from the Department of Home Affairs published on the Department of Finance website showed Home Affairs spent $800,000 overall on an Anti-people Smuggling (offshore) campaign in the 2019-20 financial year.
It is unclear how much money the government has spent on the website and film competition aimed at Sri Lanka as the Australian Border Force (ABF) did not respond to questions about how much money was allocated to that campaign.
Mr Mylvaganam said the Australian government should condemn the Sri Lankan government and its “discrimination” against Tamil people
“I know that if I didn't come to this country, I probably would have died in Sri Lanka, " he said.
“If the Australian government genuinely cares about human rights and respects international law, they should make it easier for these people to find safety in another country.”
He said the Australian government has provided to the Sri Lankan government, including naval ships and drones.
“Australia is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. They should do the right thing by refugees and help people in need, rather than put them in even more dangerous situations,” Mr Mylvaganam said.
Videos featured on the 'Zero Chances' Sri Lanka website. Source: Zero Chances
What is the ‘Zero Chance’ campaign?
The film competition is part of the broader ‘Zero Chance’ campaign, launched in June 2019.
A spokesperson at the ABF said the campaign is “an Australian Government initiative that delivers a suite of advertising and community engagement activities aimed at informing and influencing target audiences offshore.”
The ABF spokesperson said the campaign is targeted “at people who might consider a dangerous and illegal maritime journey to Australia.”
“The campaign’s message is simple – there is zero chance of illegal migration to Australia,” they said.
A new online game that features in the campaign includes an animated “wheel of fortune” showing ‘Australia’ as one of 16 options. But no matter how many times you spin, the spinner will never land on Australia and will instead fall on other options including; getting tricked by people smugglers, caught by border patrol or barred from Australia for life.
Another game invites players to pick which of three animated boats will get them to Australia. No matter what ship a player chooses, the same message appears: “don’t willingly destroy your life”.
Over the years the Department of Home Affairs has run a number of advertising campaigns to dissuade people from seeking asylum in Australia.
An advertisement on the 'Zero Chance' Sri Lanka website warning against arriving by boat to Australia. Source: Australian Government
It created fake horoscopes in 2019 to discourage Sri Lankans from arriving in Australia by boat, with predictions including having family problems, feeling ashamed and being “in debt forever”.
Back in 2017, the Australian government paid PR company Statt Consulting at least $15m in taxpayer-funded advertising to persuade asylum seekers in Afghanistan and Pakistan not to travel by boat to Australia.
The government has also plastered posters in refugee communities in Cisarua and Jakarta in Indonesia over the years, warning would-be asylum seekers that if they arrive by boat they will never be settled in Australia.
Afghan refugees protest outside UNHCR in Indonesia. Source: Getty Images/Anadolu
‘Waste of money’
Carina Ford, is family lawyer for the Tamil asylum seeker family that has been fighting a long legal battle to remain in Australia since they were removed from their Biloela, Queensland home by the Australian Border Force in 2018.
She said she was “disgusted” by the film competition and broader campaign, which she believes is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“My initial reaction was one of shock, as well as disgust,” Ms Ford told SBS News.
“At a time when we're in a deficit budget surely, there are better ways to educate people than doing a scare campaign.
“We've still got tens of thousands of people in Australia in limbo, some of them still in detention, some living in hotels and no pathway [to resettlement], no certainty.”
The government granted the ‘Biloela family’, Priya and Nades Murugappa and their Australian-born daughter Kopika, 12-month bridging visas in September.
The visas allowed them to remain in the country but no visa was granted to the family’s youngest daughter, Tharnicaa.
Ms Ford said the family now lives in Western Australia in a state of “limbo” after spending several years in detention, including isolation in Christmas Island.
The Murugappan couple Priya and Nadesalingam with their Australian-born children Kopika and Tharunicaa. Source: Supplied
“There is really no reason that people who arrived by boat need to be detained unless someone's a real risk to the Australian community,” she said.
“The reality is if you speak to Sri Lankan Tamils, which make up the majority of applications in Australia, they honestly believe that it's not safe for them to return, that there is discrimination and that they do feel harm.”
Advertising campaigns ‘a failure’
The ABF spokesperson said, “the success of Operation Sovereign Borders in securing Australia’s borders has enabled Australia to maintain one of the world’s most generous humanitarian resettlement programs.”
“The Australian Government is committed to strong border protection policies and operational responses to maritime people smuggling.
“This ensures people smugglers who seek to exploit vulnerable men, women and children are defeated, and importantly, that we prevent the loss of life at sea.”
But Ian Rintoul, spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition Sydney, vehemently disagrees.
He said government campaigns aimed at preventing people smuggling had been a resounding “failure”.
“These kinds of campaigns don't do anything in comparison to the circumstances that people are fleeing from,” Mr Rintoul told SBS News.
“Particularly both in Sri Lanka and in Afghanistan where the growing risks and the immediate dangers to people in those countries are very obvious.”
Mr Rintoul said rather than demonstrating Australia's commitment to human rights on the international stage, the government is “sending a very clear message that it is willing to collaborate with those governments who are violating human rights abuses.”
Medevac refugees and asylum seekers gesture towards protesters at the Park Hotel in Melbourne, 9 January, 2021. Source: AAP/ Erik Anderson
“The campaign absolutely recognises the complete failure of Australia to uphold the right of people to come to Australia to seek asylum in Australia and to get protection in Australia if they're found to be refugees,” he said.
Mr Rintoul said the government has spent significant funds on advertising campaigns while relying on the refugee sector to support refugees and asylum seekers once they’re released into the community or given humanitarian and bridging visas.
“The money could be far better spent supporting people who have been found to be refugees than wasted on a silly public relations film competition.”
When SBS News asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about the persecution facing Tamil people in Sri Lanka, a spokesperson said Australia had a long-lasting diplomatic relationship with Sri Lanka.
"Australia and Sri Lanka share a history of cooperation in trade and investment, education, sport, culture and development. We will celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2022," a statement from the spokesperson read.
"We engage regularly on a wide range of issues, from cooperation on economic, security and development priorities, to human rights and reconciliation."
