AustLit

'These days the line between dystopian and realist narratives feels increasingly blurred. The virtual world too now seems inseparable from the physical. The Exclusion Zone amply demonstrates that poetry is able to speak to these convergences.' (Introduction)

'In 2004, when she was John Howard’s Immigration minister and I was a reporter for my student newspaper in Adelaide, Amanda Vanstone granted me an interview. Her job was to administer Australia’s policy of locking up people who’d come to Australia by boat to seek protection from persecution. When I observed that remote refugee prisons in places such as Woomera, Port Augusta and Port Hedland did not facilitate access to lawyers and journalists, Vanstone said that was the fault of those professionals for not setting up their practices in those places. When I pressed my point, Vanstone became annoyed. “Listen. Yatala’s not remote. We don’t allow a lot of media there!”' (Introduction)