Payback Time

Payback Time, a story from the regional Victorian city of Ballarat, is a valuable educational tool providing insight for all Australians into the lives of those affected by mandatory detention.

Ordinary Australians will never fully understand the extent of human suffering and the mental health consequences mandatory detention has for asylum seekers. These are people who, in order to survive, chance the journey to Australian shores in the hope of being accepted to a country free from persecution and the atrocities of war.

In Payback Time, asylum seeker Ramin Bakhtiarvandi details his experiences in Australian detention centers. Released after four years, a lifetime's quest for safety and freedom proved too good to be true – Ramin received a $227,000 bill from the Australian Government for over four years of detention centre 'care'.

'Welcome to the lucky country.'

The film also features local asylum seeker advocates Kath Morton and Carmel Kavanagh, a team of two ordinary Australian women doing an extraordinary job.

This is Australia's million-dollar experiment on the most vulnerable group of people in the world – refugees – a reality check for the conscience of Australian democracy.