Struggle Street

It’s very obvious in the opening scenes of Struggle Street that this a documentary pitched at an international audience. Why else would it need to paint Sydney as a glamorous, beach-loving metropolis only to screech to a halt at a roadsign for Mt. Druitt?

Suddenly the tone shifts: More than 1/3 of residents live in public housing “in some areas.” Many are unemployed or on a pension in this “Boganville shithole”. With its crude montage of residents (including an unnecessary fart) you could be mistaken for thinking you were watching something from a 6:30 current affairs show. These locals look abusive, poor, angry, reckless and I really wouldn’t want them as my neighbours.

“That’s how they do it in the Druitt,” narrator David Field will tell us.

Amongst the residents we meet is Ashley, who has had 10 kids (several of whom are out of work) and 18 grandchildren. Sadly, he has endured 4 heart attacks, a stroke, a triple bypass and lives on a Disability pension. At 53 he suffers dementia and his wife, Peta serves as his carer.

Their home is an eyesore inside and out, whilst one son, Corey, has an ice addiction. Clearly at odds with parents, he is more than a handful -even allegedly taking property from his parents to sell for cash.

Later he will face a court trial for possessing drugs, whereupon his Dad concedes prison would probably be the best thing for him.

“The ice has changed him,” Ashley tells us.

“He’d be alright if he got off the drugs,” says Peta.

Another son Tristan, who has brain damage, loves his Dad but wants to punch his brother. It’s all too sad.

Other subjects include 21 year old single mother Erin, who is already doing it tough, but has taken in teen rebel Bailee after finding her from a suicide attempt. Erin is giving something back when she is sorely in need of her own support.

Bailee, who tells us she changes her postcode when applying for jobs, is at one stage heard to ask the crew, “Can we not record this please?”

Homeless Indigenous man William is dependent on welfare, and lives in the bush where he slugs birds with a slingshot for food. Seriously. William (who drops the ‘C word’ a lot) also gets no joy from Centrelink who places his call on hold to try and sort his latest problem. I suspect many will empathise with the length of time it takes.

Amid the grim narration there are occasional off-camera questions to the subjects (from a producer… cameraman?). As a storytelling device these are too random to be justified, and frankly only makes me feel like the show is being done on the cheap.

There are also subtitles for subjects speaking English that perhaps add to the divide already widening between my couch and these doco characters.

Most concerningly, there is a scene of housemates breaking into a locked bedroom because, as one is heard to say, “I want another cone.” If I didn’t feel like a voyeur before, I do now.

It’s true there are some scenes that depict more positivity: a Father’s Day bonding between Ashley and Tristan, and some social assistance for Bailee from Graceades Cottage program development worker Ivanka.

But in the first episode the balance is overwhelmingly weighted to the negative. The shock tactics are in your face: visually, tonally, and in its storytelling.

If the purpose is to shine a light on the disadvantaged why is it focussed on one suburb? And why is there so little about what government and community is doing to address homelessness, mental health and poverty? Instead of empathising with their plight, this series bombards us with arguments, despair, addiction, lawlessness.

I regret it leaves me feeling “Thank god, it’s them and not me.” Following on from recent disappointing exercises such as Living with the Enemy, SBS is at risk of raising more questions than it answers and producers putting conflict above context.

As our narrator reminds us, “That’s life on Struggle Street when the odds are stacked against you.”

Struggle Street airs 8:30pm Wednesday on SBS ONE.