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ABC doco explores Keeping Australia Safe

200 cameras were deployed around Australia and overseas over a 48 hour period for a doco on national security.

ABC will screen a new six part series Keeping Australia Safe, looking at security measures in Australia.

The doco from the producers of Keeping Australia Alive, was filmed over a 48-hour period. It will challenge perceptions versus reality about where threats exist, the competing priorities of national and personal security, and the cost both financially and to our civil liberties.

ITV Studios’ Head of Content Ben Ulm, said, “We deployed 200 cameras around Australia and overseas over a single two-day period,” he said. “To gain the trust of 30 institutions that are traditionally very guarded about public exposure was like taking a year to crawl up 30 mountains, then tumbling down the other side in 48 hours. Fortunately, we landed on our feet.

“With numerous polls revealing that Australians seem to be living in fear, and the government telling us that acts of terrorism in this country are now inevitable, this series will look at the costs of keeping Australia safe,” Ulm continued. “And we’ll hopefully begin a conversation about what sort of Australia we want our children to live in. At ITV, we are enormously proud to be producing such an important and timely series.”

ABC’s Head of Factual Steve Bibb said: “Keeping Australia Safe highlights how ABC Factual is reshaping its output – turning documentary storytelling on its head for surprising results. This incredibly ambitious project will get the nation talking and ask big questions about what it takes to keep us safe day to day. This commission extends a valuable ABC brand which started with the highly-acclaimed, and Logie nominated, Keeping Australia Alive.”

It will air later this year.

Keeping Australia Safe will provide immersive and wide-ranging insight into our complex security landscape, revealing what is being done to keep all Australians safe from harm at any one point in time. With unprecedented access to Federal, State and community based services, the series will be intercut with stories from those responsible for keeping Australians safe on a daily basis. They range from specialist police units in Australia’s cities to community based domestic crisis centres, from defence force operations in Afghanistan to Magistrates Courts and remote policing in The Outback.

“In 2016 Keeping Australia Alive demonstrated audiences’ appetite for observational documentaries that provide an in-depth view of how our country functions,” said Liz Stevens, Senior Manager of Documentary at Screen Australia. “We’re pleased to be involved with this next series from the same team, who will now give audiences insight into the intricacies of keeping Australians safe.”

Keeping Australia Safe is produced by Elle Gibbons (Keeping Australia Alive, Paddock to Plate) with executive producers Ben Ulm (Keeping Australia Alive, The First ANZACs) and Robert Wallace (Bondi Vet, MasterChef) for ITV Studios Australia.

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