This was published 7 years ago
Babes Against Detention: the pink-filtered response to Australia's immigration policy
By Mary Ward
"Think Peter Dutton is a jerk? Show us with your cute ass face."
Enter Babes Against Detention, a shamelessly pink-hued and Instagram-filtered campaign against Australia's mandatory detention of refugees and asylum seekers.
Nicolle White, the founder of 'Babes Against Detention'.
The campaign was started by Nicolle White earlier this year. Selling 'Wish You Were Here' pins for $15, White encourages supporters to buy a pin and take a picture using the hashtag "#babesagainstdetention" so she can share it from the campaign's Instagram account.
All profits from the pins go to Victoria's Asylum Seeker Resources Centre (ASRC).
The inspiration for the campaign came to White from a rather unlikely source.
"I actually saw a similar page about 'Babes for Trump' and I thought, I'm not a fan of that at all, but this [concept] could be used for something really good," she says.
A communications manager for a travel company, White first realised she could use social media to advocate for refugees and asylum seekers when she started the 'Refugee Stories' Instagram account in 2015. The account shared the stories and photographs of refugees who had settled around Melbourne.
However, when the 25-year-old moved to Byron Bay earlier this year, it became harder to find people to interview and photograph and she decided to change tact.
"A lot of people in Australia aren't happy with the policies that are being put forward about refugees and asylum seekers, but they don't want to be too political about it," she says, adding that the pins are an "easy way" for people to become involved in a cause that matters to them.
With a mix of pictures of pins fastened to bikini tops and cheeky one-liners about public opinion and policy ("I've got 99 problems and the indefinite detention of asylum seekers is number one," reads an Instagram post. "If you've ever torrented a movie or a TV show because you can't wait for it to be released but don't understand why people seek asylum by boat, you're an asshole," reads another) the Instagram account is definitely a light take on the issue.
But is there a danger in this approach with trivialising the plight of refugees and asylum seekers?
White says her customers are not necessarily the sort of people who would attend a protest rally. For her, the pins give people an opportunity to donate to the ASRC who may not have otherwise done so, despite opposing the Australian government's immigration policy.
"The danger of it coming across as trivial is overridden by the benefit of giving people a way to talk about the issue in a way they are comfortable with," she says.
At the moment, the pins (which are made by Melbourne accessories brand From the Hip) are limited edition. The pink are out of stock, but White is still selling the 200 black pins she recently ordered.
Of course, if it weren't for the pointed one-liners in its Instagram posts, it would be easy to mistake the 'Babes Against Detention' featured on the account for women modelling for any accessories brand. The women featured on the account are "babes" in the most conventional sense, although White says this is not deliberate.
"We think anyone who's against detention is instantly a babe," she says.
"We accept absolutely anyone's submissions, there's no 'babe' as in you have to look a certain way. And we'd love to see a diverse range of people supporting the cause."