ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Toohey is chief northern correspondent for the Australian. He won a Walkley Award for his first Quarterly Essay, Last Drinks: The Impact of the Northern Territory Intervention. He was previously a senior writer at the Bulletin and is the author of three books: God’s Little Acre, Rocky Goes West and The Killer Within. He has won the Graham Perkin journalist of the year award and a Walkley award for magazine feature writing. He lives in Darwin.

READ AN EXTRACT

Visiting the Indonesian departure points, Toohey tells the dramatic stories of asylum seekers heading from Java to Australia, investigates people-smuggling and witnesses the aftermath of a sinking at sea.
Read An Extract
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

One of the most useful and important of Black Inc.'s long series of Quarterly Essays.

Paul Monk, Weekend Australian

 No one can doubt the time Toohey has put in on ground most of us are unacquainted with. This honest and highly readable essay should … be engaged with by anyone yearning towards a humane outcome for those who seek sanctuary with us.

Thomas Keneally, The Age

Excellent analysis by Paul Toohey in the Quarterly Essay on asylum seekers. Can't recommend it too highly.

Paul Bongiorno

A powerful, necessary reminder that ‘asylum seekers’ have stories, loves, fears, names, and faces.

Australian Book Review

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