He is the coordinator of Behind the Wire, an oral history project about Australian immigration detention. A book of these stories, called They Cannot Take the Sky, will be published in March 2017 by Allen & Unwin. An exhibition based on the book will be held at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne from 17 March until 2 July 2017. Michael is also a producer of The Messenger, a podcast about Abdul Aziz Muhamat and his life inside the detention centre on Manus Island. As a print journalist, Michael has written about environmental and social issues for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Nature, Nautilus,Smith Journal, Right Now and Overland, among others.