The Feed: Sept 14 – 18

This week The Feed explores the sperm shortage in Australia; interviews an asylum seeker-turned Michael Jackson impersonator; meets a prisoner on his first day out and Marc Fennell sits down with Hugh Jackman.

Sperm Shortage
Australia is in the midst of a sperm shortage. Growing demand from single women and same sex couples, combined with the ban on anonymous donations means waiting lists at clinics for those seeking sperm can stretch over a year. Some clinics have had to resort to importing sperm from overseas, while private, unregulated websites that match donors with recipients are thriving. But whether you’re dealing with a clinic, or someone you’ve met via the internet, what’s it really like for those on the front line of Australia’s sperm shortfall?

Seeking Neverland
Fleeing persecution in war torn Iran, asylum seeker Abbas Sharhani left his family and made the treacherous journey to Australia by boat alone at just 16 years old. He had never heard of Michael Jackson – it was while he was detained that a guard told him he looked like Michael Jackson and so his discovery and obsession with the King of Pop began. His time in Darwin detention centre was consumed by researching, dressing like and studying the iconic MJ’s every dance move. Now 20 and living in the community, he has since had plastic surgery to perfect his MJ nose. A mini celebrity in his own right, Abbas loves his new life in Australia making a living as a Michael Jackson impersonator.

Hugh Jackman & the Closure of Aboriginal Communities
Marc Fennell sits down with Hugh Jackman to talk about his time as a young man in the indigenous community of Areyonga. He also opens up about his love of musicals, why he gravitates to movie roles with terrible haircuts and he tells us about his latest film Pan, which re-imagines the classic tale of the lost boys.

Doing Hard Time, Again and Again
More than half of the people in NSW prisons are re-offenders. The rehabilitation process is struggling and the jails are fuller than they have ever been. Is there a solution to skyrocketing prison rates? Is the system itself contributing to the rates of people re-offending, or are our prisons just filled with bad people who can never change? We meet a prisoner on his first day out and discover some of the challenges faced by an ex-prisoner as he is released in to the community.

7:30pm weeknights on SBS 2.