In the lead up to World Refugee Day on Saturday, TV One’s Seven Sharp broadcast an excellent five-minute item by Gill Higgins on the story of an Afghanistan refugee who made it to Australia on a small boat via people smugglers – see: “We’re whistling and waving lifejackets to get attention but nothing helped”. Co-host Pippa Wetzell then gave her own strong one-minute advocacy for New Zealand taking more refugees – see: We need to up our refugee quota.
On the Seven Sharp Facebook page viewers were asked: “Do you agree with Pippa?”. Of course, some people say “never read the comments” for such online publishing, but having look through the 446 comments (so far) its highly instructive about the public mood.
The overwhelming disagreement is apparent. A brief survey suggests about nine out of ten responses oppose Pippa Wetzell’s argument to increase the refugee quota. The standard response is: “No, look after our own people first”. Of course some people put it much more aggressively.
And dozens of responses personalise this notion, along the lines of: “Pippa could house and feed them”. And, of course there’s plenty of derogatory and sexist comments (“at the end of the day you are just some bird on the telly”; “Must be the blonde showing through”; “Go play dress up with your dollies Pippa”, etc).
So do Seven Sharp viewers hate refugees? That’s the impression you get. But much of the reaction against allowing more refugees in is couched in the language of concern for the existing New Zealanders in disadvantage, especially those struggling to find adequate housing and employment. The nationalism is pervasive. Generally, reactionary sentiments dominate. There are some truly scary sentiments expressed on the page.
But not all of it is depressing. There are also many Seven Sharp viewers rallying to Wetzell’s cause, and putting forward strong arguments. In addition it’s worth noting that the Seven Sharp question of “Do you agree with Pippa?” has been liked 275 times, and the Gill Higgins story about the Afghanstani refugee has been “liked” 1,700 times.
And now Wetzell has responded to the debate with “Pippa’s view: While we may not agree, at least celebrate a robust debate”, which is also highly worth watching. And now responses are being left on the Seven Sharp Facebook pages which seem overwhelming supportive to Wetzell as well as her arguments. Her new video has also been liked 393 times.
