AustLit

'‘Stateless’ is timeless. Although numerous characters, incidents and official policies are clearly “inspired by true events”, as the opening credits note, the ABC’s probing drama about Australia’s mandatory detention regime is not framed by specific dates or governments. Using a bleak detention centre in outback South Australia as the nexus for our ongoing national obsession with border protection, the show focuses on a secured zone where stasis is a weapon: refugee claims are not processed and conditions are designed to wear down detainees. One newcomer sights a man – catatonically hunched over, clutching a suitcase – and is told that’s what seven years without hope looks like.' (Introduction)

'The Bass Rock looms from the ocean 3 kilometres off Scotland’s East Lothian coast, glistening white with thousands of years of bird droppings and home to the world’s largest gannet population. Ruth, living in a big – too big – coastal house, doesn’t much like the Bass Rock. The other islands in the sea charm her but this misshapen volcanic plug looks to her “like the head of a dreadfully handicapped child”.' (Introduction)