“Multicultural Australia” too often forgets the narrative of refugees and migrants – an invisible population despite its large presence. We must create more space for these stories to be told, and heard.
But for those long-graduated from cartoons, a sobering absence of multicultural representation in Australian media still stands.
Twenty-four per cent of the population is made up of Australians of non-European and Indigenous backgrounds. Despite this, a report by Media Diversity Australia showed they only appear on television news screens six per cent of the time. Less than four per cent of all news and current affairs stories broadcast are about multicultural Australia.
“Multicultural Australia” too often forgets the narrative of refugees and migrants – an invisible population despite its large presence. We must create more space for these stories to be told, and heard.
Over my time as CEO of Settlement Council of Australia I have heard countless stories of tragedy and triumph, easily worthy of the big screen. I don’t believe Australia doesn’t want to hear them, but there is also very little opportunity or space for them to be told.
The Council has recently launched “Stories of Multicultural Australia”, offering training to migrants and refugees to tell their own stories in the media and supporting them to get media exposure. We want to train the next generation of diverse storytellers, to not only share their stories but to shape debate and refine discussions on vital issues.
This is a step in the right direction but to truly improve multicultural representation in Australian media, it needs our collective backing. There is no shortage of multicultural stories to be told, but it takes a village to make them feel heard.
It takes journalists to seek culturally diverse perspectives not just on migrant issues, but on everything from global politics, to school zones, to the latest fashion trends. To recognise migrants not just as spokespeople for other migrants, but as Australians with an equal claim to shape our culture and national debates.
It takes increasing the diversity of journalists themselves – journalists who don’t need to imagine new untold angles, because they have lived them, and lived among them. Journalists whose contacts may not be those who walk the halls of power, but those who feel the impacts of their decisions.
It takes all of us as consumers of news actively clicking on stories that show a different cultural perspective, and demanding better when that perspective rarely seems to be on offer on the home pages of online papers, and the front pages of broadsheets.
It requires us to listen intently to what is being said and allow the possibility of being persuaded by a perspective our own upbringings would not naturally have us entertain. After all, what use is speaking if there is no one listening? If a migrant drops a mic in an empty room, does it even make a sound?
In short, it requires that we both demand diversity on our screens and are afforded the space to make non-tokenistic contributions. Too often, the culturally diverse voice is sought out to break up the visible sea of white faces. Visual representation is a start, but more than seeing coarse hair and hearing the western Sydney twang, I want to hear words that flow from the rich tapestry of upbringings in this country. I want to be exposed to the multiple production lines of thought, producing a mosaic reflective of this country’s diversity of minds, not just its faces.
Societal change is not an overnight solution, but we must do more to invest in the incredible untold stories of Australia’s forgotten.
This Harmony Day, I want to call on people to take concrete action to promote diversity. Whether that be donating to our Stories of Multicultural Australia campaign to provide this training to disadvantaged migrants, or even simply writing a letter to your local news station.
Change for the better starts with giving people a go, sometimes in the form of sharing the mic. We are all Australians and our stories deserve to be equally heard.
Sandra Elhelw Wright is the Chief Executive Officer of the Settlement Council of Australia. You can donate to the ‘Stories of Multicultural Australia’ campaign.
