Dateline: June 5

Tonight Mark Davis will present Dateline from the Greek capital, Athens, reporting on the crisis engulfing the country as it prepares for elections on June 17.

Earlier elections held in May failed to deliver a government, with parliament divided between those that support austerity measures tied to the bailout agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund earlier this year, and those that oppose them.

Featuring interviews with political leaders and analysts, Dateline will go behind the scenes of some of the main political campaigns and consider what they mean for the future of Greece, as well as the rest of the world watching on as the crisis continues to unfold.

Dateline will also examine how some of the people hardest hit by the crisis, are finding ways to adjust during these uncertain times.

Video journalist Amos Roberts visits the port city of Volos in the country’s west which has a 20 per cent unemployment rate. Those lucky enough to have a job have seen their salaries slashed. As speculation increases over Greece’s exit from the Euro, local residents have developed a way to be less dependent on it, establishing an alternative currency called TEM – an indirect system of barter designed to stimulate the flagging local economy. Many people in Volos exchange goods and services and use the new currency to measure and record the value of the exchange.

Alternative currency networks similar to TEM operate in other parts of the world, with more than a dozen in Greece, but with 900 members and more joining every day, this is the largest in a country unsure of what money it will be using in a few months’ time.

9:30pm Tuesday on SBS ONE.