3 x 60' Mint Pictures

In August 2001, when a leaky Indonesian boat breaks down in the Indian Ocean, the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescues 433 asylum seekers from drowning. When Australia refuses to let the shipwrecked survivors land, a humanitarian emergency becomes an extraordinary eight-day standoff, capturing headlines around the world and escalating into a high-stakes political confrontation.

Australia’s radical experiment in stopping asylum seekers is internationally condemned, as the government introduces a hardline approach to border control that will shape the country’s response for decades.

As the crisis unfolds, the series plays out like a political thriller, with tension and stakes mounting across three episodes as the eight-day standoff at sea spirals into an extraordinary international incident that still echoes around the world today. Twenty-five years on, measures once condemned are increasingly becoming the norm worldwide.

Told by survivors, politicians, the ship’s captain and international experts, this gripping three-part series examines the Tampa crisis as a pivotal moment in the global treatment of refugees – and its continuing impact on societies around the world.

Kriv Stenders | Director

‘With the 25th anniversary of the Tampa crisis set to be marked in August 2026 and the world in which we now live radically transformed since 2001, the opportunity to re-visit and examine this profound 'turning point' in our nation’s history couldn’t be more prescient and relevant.

At the heart of all the political machinations, consequences and outcomes are the gripping human stories of the Tampa survivors themselves with the series ultimately asking confronting questions about Australia’s role in inspiring the hardline border policies that now continue to further fracture and divide our world.’