Investigate Australia’s offshore processing of asylum seekers by chatting to those at the heart of the story.

Australia maintains a hard line on immigration: Any asylum seeker who arrives by boat will never be resettled in the country.

While the Australian government says this policy has “stopped the boats”, helped prevent drownings at sea and enabled them to control their borders, critics say the indefinite detention of people on remote Pacific islands to prevent them from landing in Australia is a deliberate attempt to circumvent their international obligations and hide the horrors of offshore detention.

What do you think?

Investigate the issue by talking to those at the heart of the story. Select who you want to chat to from a range of different perspectives then opt to have your say through an opinion poll.

Behrouz Boochani – Journalist and refugee on Manus Island

Stephen Keim – Australian barrister

Peter Dutton – Australia’s minister for immigration and border protection

Kate Schuetze – Amnesty International

Father Clement Taulam – Papua New Guinean Catholic priest on Manus Island

Jana Favero – Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Rafiullah Yousefzai – Manus refugee transferred to the US

This interactive chat experience is based on real interviews and was built using InterviewJS, an open-source tool developed by Al Jazeera to bring you journalism through a messenger platform.

Start the story now:

InterviewJS is an open-source Digital News Initiative (DNI) & Al Jazeera-backed web app for newsrooms that enables journalists to compose and manage scripted chats for a more immersive storytelling experience. Visit: www.interviewjs.io