MoAD is open. There may be building works during your visit. The Cabinet Room is temporarily closed. Learn more

Get Stuffed

Two Afghani men sit in wreckage with a notice from DFAT. One asks what the letter says. The other replies, 'Roughly translated: "get stuffed"'.

As the Taliban moved across Afghanistan in the weeks before Kabul fell, Australia wrestled with its moral obligation to Afghans who had worked alongside Australian personnel throughout the war. Johannes Leak’s uncomfortable work challenges the government’s initial position — later amended — that those employed as civilian contractors would not qualify for special visa consideration. The distinction implied they were somehow less deserving than military interpreters of protection by the country they served.

- Karen Middleton, guest curator