The creators of controversial SBS miniseries Struggle Street claim they had no forewarning of the so-called smear campaign the mayor of Blacktown, Stephen Bali, launched on the show in the days leading up to its premiere.
The show, which premiered in May last year, documents the socioeconomic struggles of residents in public housing areas around western Sydney. Speaking at the Australian International Documentary Conference in Melbourne on Monday, series producer David Galloway and SBS’s head of documentaries John Godfrey said they found the initial reaction to the series “distressing and upsetting” – particularly as they had shown the first episode to Struggle Street subjects Peta and Ashley Kennedy four days before the media controversy, to no complaints.
On the day that the first episode aired, Bali was joined by other Blacktown residents in a garbage truck blockade of SBS headquarters. At that point it was already being labeled as “poverty porn”, though few had seen it. Bali told the Telegraph that Struggle Street was “just another trash reality program” which falsely represented Mount Druitt, and he called for a boycott of the station.
On Monday, Godfrey said that SBS had offered a private screening of Struggle Street to the mayor of Blacktown ahead of its premiere, but when they arrived “in the lion’s den”, the screening had actually been set up in the council chambers, for 30 people. The council was immediately concerned that Struggle Street would cause a drop in real estate investment in the area, and a few days later – while he was at the Logies – Godfrey received a phone call notifying him that there would be a protest outside SBS the next day. “We didn’t create a climate of fear; it was the mayor,” Godfrey said.
Despite being heavily criticised in the days leading up to the premiere, Godfrey said he never considered pulling Struggle Street – although they did decide to air the final two episodes back-to-back in order to “narrow the window” of criticism. His main concern was duty of care for Galloway and his crew. One accusation – that the producers of Struggle Street had provided their subjects with drugs – was particularly upsetting. “There was this fear that it could get out of control, it was scary,” Galloway said.
The SBS vehemently denied allegations that they had fabricated scenes in Struggle Street, but were still investigated at the request of Bali. “As far as we understand, no one was given any independent advice before they entered in, when they signed the waivers,” Bali told Guardian Australia. “Most of them haven’t received a copy of the waivers. A lot of them were induced during the programming.” Soon after these claims were made, Struggle Street’s production company Keo Films threatened to sue Bali for defamation, calling his accusations “absolutely false”.
Most of the controversy died down after the first episode aired, but the creators contend that they remained in contact with the subjects during that time; they also claim that many in Blacktown have been “inundated” with financial support since the series finished. “We knew the conversation would change as soon as it was going to air,” Galloway said on Monday.
2015’s Gayby Baby – a documentary about Australian kids with same-sex parents, directed by Maya Newell and produced by Charlotte Mars – also stirred up media controversy; on the panel, the pair recalled waking up to the inflammatory Daily Telegraph front page criticising the film. “The first thing we thought about was the kids,” Mars said. “They were going to school that day and they were on the front page.”
The team immediately started calling the families from the documentary, at 7am that morning. Some of the media reporting “made [them] sick”, but they were buoyed by the reaction of some of the kids involved. “The kids gave us courage that morning,” Newell says. “Gus [the boy on the movie poster] walked into his kitchen and said, ‘Sweet, front page’.”
- The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) runs at ACMI in Melbourne until 2 March
