Case Study: 'The Merger' Film on Refugee Issues and Integration

This case study analyzes the film 'The Merger' to explore refugee integration, asylum processes, and community support mechanisms in Australia. The film portrays a struggling football team in a rural town that recruits refugees to boost its player numbers and funding, highlighting the challenges and opportunities faced by refugees in a new country. The analysis covers the legal definitions of refugees and migrants, the Australian government's treatment of refugees, and the emotional and practical difficulties refugees encounter, such as language barriers and cultural differences. It also examines the support services available to refugees, including employability assessment, training, and community sponsorship programs. The study further investigates the statistics of refugee resettlement in Australia and the role of offshore detention centers. It concludes by highlighting the importance of community integration and support in fostering a sense of belonging and well-being for refugees.

THE MERGER
REFLECTION TASK

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................5
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The Merger is a film that is based upon one man stage show represented by a humoristic
actor namely Damian Callinan. The story is based upon the footy narration at the grass roots
level in which a football team from Aussie Rules has been presented from the tiny rural town of
Bodgy Creek who struggles a lot to survive (Griffin and Heinrich, 2021). This report is
completely based upon the tasks that are related to the Merger movie and will elaborate the
judgement, emotions, facts and ideas about the information that is being provided by the director
with the help of the movie.
MAIN BODY
Task 1
Refugees are the ones who are described with the help of global caring law as people in need
of defence are entitled to a fortunate status. Once granted when the refugee status into the host
country, the state cannot deport them. Migrants on the other hand, live without legal protection
and can be deported at any point of time from Bodgy Creek. The Merger is an Australian film
showing that as a part of Global Migration Film Festival. The movie is about discussing about
the struggling football team that recruits some of the refugees in order to boost both player
numbers and funding for the club. The refugees are treated in a way that they have complete
right to choose their place of residence, to move freely within the country, free exercise of
religion and religious education and gets free access to the courts including legal assistance.
Refugees and migrants apply for the asylum which has somewhat disrupted the easy
management of such kind of categories (Kim and Shin, 2020). Many asylum applicants who
technically fall under the refugee protection category have been deported back to their home
countries, at which they are at great risk of torture or prosecution.
The Australian government treat refugees and if they found them satisfies health and
security requirements they will be granted a protection visa. Individuals and families with their
children spent years living into substandard conditions in such centres where they suffered
severe abuse, inhumane treatment and medical neglect. Hence, it has been identified that the
Australian government treat the refugees in most ethical and fair manner which has been shown
in the movie and thus it is a feel good movie so at the end of the film, the bigots are enlightened

and they have mutual understanding along with acceptance and belongings. On the basis of the
given quotes in task one it can be said that, the residents of the Bodgy Creek believes in
providing help to the real refugee instead of economic refugee. The economic refugee refers to
that refugees who leaves their own country in order to become more economically independent.
They do not experienced any kind of violence or harmful activities in their own country. On the
other hand, the Australian government treats the refugees in most effective manner whether they
are real refugees or economic refugees. The Australian government performs the concept of
gaining the complete detailed information of the refugee. Afterwards, the help has been provided
to them. Yes, these treatments are fair as it is concerned with the safety of country and refugee as
well. In order to know that the refugees are real the identification is done. Also, in the movie it
has been shown that the refugees have been treated in effective manner. The human rights has
been assured to them. Thus, it clearly states that, the Australian government is assuring the fair
treatment.
Task 2
According to the film “The Merger”, it has been evaluated that within the story is about the
Global Migration of the people who faces certain issues and difficulties in order to get them
adjusted into the new country. The whole movie is about the struggling football team that
recruits some refugees in order to boost both player numbers as well as funding for the
betterment of the club (Hečková and et.al., 2019). One of the refugee players is Sayyid who fled
the war in Syria leaving his mother and brother in Aleppo. If I would be at the place of the
refugees and moving to a new country but not able to speak their local language I will find it
difficult to feel a sense of belongingness after being arrived as a refugee. As according to the
story, it had been evaluated that life within the UK are much more difficult than Syria that is
being showed in the film and it is all because of the challenges that is being faced by the refugees
because of the language barriers. Living into a different culture has their own way of making a
feeling of expatriate at all times. It is very much evident that if I were at that place I will
definitely face difficulty issues in order to force by my peers to learn their language and to
become a part of them. Hence, getting new people within the new country is extremely
significant. All such things generate anxiety and make the people unable to handle certain
important tasks because of the language barriers.

If I put myself in the place of the refugee that has been described in the movie then, it leads
to experiencing the bunch of emotions. Leaving my own country and going to the new country
leads to shatter numerous of inner emotions. Thus, I will not become aware about the languages
and the culture that has been adopted by the people who are already residing over there. Also,
there is thought developed in my mind that, I am not accepted by the community. It is hard to
leave out home nation. The connectivity with my family starts reducing. I can feel the pain of
being far from my family. As I have put myself in the situation of refugee, I can say that it is
really hard to leave in another country.
Though integrating with a community helps a lot in order to understand the feelings and
behaviour of the local people who are residing over there since their birth. This is one of the best
ways I would feel for myself if I was at the place of refugees as it assists me in successful
community inclusion of real life skill training sessions. This would help me with my disabilities
along with defining my vision of success within that specific community. Also as per my
thoughts, while moving to a new country, staying connected to the loved ones or family
members are equally important in order to achieve success in all tasks (Do and et.al., 2019). This
helps in order to get complete support in emotional, esteem, informational as well as in tangible
manner. This will also help me in my health status as well in context of mental along with
personal well being and also tied up my relations into appropriate quality. With the help of
formation of a sense of belongingness with other people around a common goal or mission in
which identity is a major contributor help to generate a sense of personal meaning into life.
Task 3
A refugee is a person who has fled their own country and can never return back due to
certain fear of prosecution and has been given refugee status. Refugee status is given to
applicants by the United Nations or by any other third party country just like Australia. On the
other hand, an Asylum seeker is a person who has fled their own country and applied for
protection as a refugee. As per the United Nations, it has been identified that convention related
to the status of refugees, it is a person who is outside from their own country and also unable or
unwilling to return back due to a well founded fear of being persecuted because of the race,
religion, nationality, political opinion and membership of a person or particular social group.

According to the refugees that are being available within the Australia, the status is about 15000
people has been presented either through resettlement from other countries or granting protection
to people who had applied for asylum in Australia.
Australia is considered to be one of the world’s major immigration nations having over 7.5
million people have settled there. In 2019 to 2021, it has been understood that immigration to
Australia came to a halt especially during the pandemic condition, which in return saw reduction
of the Australian population for the first time since World War I. Now the net overseas migration
has been enhanced from 30050 in 1992-93 to 178,600 people in 2015-16 and now it is
considered as 800000 per year in which 200000 are permanent migrants and remaining 600000
are temporary migrants. Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945 and
it has been exponentially volatile in nature as it reaches to its peak of 20600 people in 2013. But
falling again to zero two years later because if the Covid-19 pandemic situation. As per the
statistics taken during 2019-20, Australia granted refugees status to 15000 people either through
resettlement from other countries or granting protection to people who had applied for asylum
within the Australia. In year 2018-19, Australia granted a total number of 18800 refugees and
humanitarian visas and the maximum number of people came from Iraq. Apart from this, there
are five other countries as well such as Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syrian Arab
republic and Myanmar from which more than one third populations came within the Australia
(Moen and et.al., 2019).
Over the past 10 years, of all resettlement refugees 55% went to United States of America,
20% to Canada, 11% to Australia. Refugees coming to Australia enter communities immediately
and when arrive in Australia; refugees go through the humanitarian programme. They arrive as
permanent residents and can immediately access income support payments in similar ways as
any other Australian permanent resident. Christmas Island officially known as the Territory of
Christmas Island which is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the similar
name. Nauru is 3000 kilometres from the Australian mainland while Manus Island lies 300
kilometres north of the main island of Papua New Guinea. In context of refugees, no refugee and
asylum seeker have been sent to Nauru since 2014 and it is the only offshore detention centre.
PNG’s Manus Island was forced to shut down after it was found to be unconstitutional by the
PNG Supreme Court 2016. They will now never settle in Australia. In April 2019, the Morrison

government paid for 140 Serco employees were sent to Christmas Island despite there being no
refugees on the Island (Kaur and Kautish, 2019).
Task 4

CITY OF CASEY
The City of Casey is a local government area situated in
Victoria, Australia in the outer south eastern suburbs of
Melbourne. The City of Casey have major features which
involves Dandenong police paddocks reserve, Lysterfield
park, Churchill national park, Westfield fountain gate
shopping centre, Cranbourne park shopping centre,
Federation university, Chisholm institute of TAFE, etc.
Casey city is good place to live as boasts wonderful
community minded people along with great schools as well
as tertiary institutions which are specialises in vibrant local
events, and a unique as well as attractive environment. The
location is just a drive of 35 minutes from Melbourne and
close proximity to all major transport and freight services
makes the city an ideal place for business.
Facilities and services that are effectively builds
community partnerships with the firms and businesses
help refugees successfully integrate into local
communities. Refugee support services include
employability assessment, training and job development,
vocational training and skills recertification, job
placement and job maintenance. The community offers
sponsorship schemes allows the group of refugees as well
as their families as they start their new lives within the
Australia. Community within the organizations that are
situated in the Australia such as the Asylum seeker centre
and the asylum seeker resource centre provides a range of
support and services to refugees who involve targeted
programmes to support refugee children and adults,
social support and friendship, advocacy and legal aid
along with assistance.
Australia is the fourth happiest
country on the planet making their
lifestyle one of the best known and
resentment in context of carefree
living. The people living over there
are feeling of no hectic pace from a
big metropolis and appropriately
generate a balance between work,
leisure time and family. There are a lot
of adventures that has been tried by an
individual in Australia are climbing
Sydney harbour bridge, four wheel
drive on Fraser island, Dive in Great
Barrier Reef, Jet boat through
horizontal falls, Sail the Whitsundays
and Hover in a helicopter over the 12
Apostles.
White heaven beach, Arnhem Land, Exmouth, Fitzroy Island, Kakadu national park, Uluru, etc are also some of the most famous places to rome around
within the Australia. Moreover, in Australia the people are really very much friendly in nature along with extremely easygoing. Australians are renowned for their
laid back nature and unique sense of humour. Another thing Australians are known for is their love of sport, recreation and the great outdoors. Australia is on the
top because it has great access of education, high life expectation, socioeconomic well being.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that within the movie i.e. “The Merger” in
which a community football team requires recruitment and a group of refugees needs a new
home while turn out to become a perfect fit. Within the study, there are various aspects had been
discussed in detailed manner that shows certain concepts such as reflection as a refugee about the
personal feelings, research over the topic refugee as well as preparation of the poster which has
been created over the topic such as the Casey city. The report will elaborate the detailed concepts
in well structured and detailed manner which help to provide information about the topic in
beneficial ways.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Do, H.H., and et.al., 2019. Deep learning for aspect-based sentiment analysis: a comparative
review. Expert Systems with Applications, 118, pp.272-299.
Griffin, D.J. and Heinrich*, W.F., 2021. Supporting a Merger of Entrepreneurship Curricula:
Combining Organizational Frames and Theory of Change. Entrepreneurship Education
and Pedagogy, p.25151274211017549.
Hečková, J., and et.al., 2019. Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions as a Challenge for
Sustainable Business. Sustainability, 11(11), p.3130.
Kaur, R. and Kautish, S., 2019. Multimodal sentiment analysis: A survey and
comparison. International Journal of Service Science, Management, Engineering, and
Technology (IJSSMET), 10(2), pp.38-58.
Kim, J.H. and Shin, H.S., 2020. Effects of self-reflection-focused career course on career search
efficacy, career maturity, and career adaptability in nursing students: A mixed methods
study. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(5), pp.395-403.
Moen, E., and et.al., 2019. Deep learning for cellular image analysis. Nature methods, 16(12),
pp.1233-1246.
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