Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article provides a critical overview of a decade (2015-2025) of interventions undertaken by Australia’s federal, state and territory screen development agencies, and by the public broadcasters ABC and SBS, to address underrepresentation in the Australian screen industry. As in many countries, Australia has seen a recent surge in diversity actions, policies, roadmaps and commitments. We examine the types of interventions which have multiplied over the last decade, in order to observe systemic approaches to addressing diversity in Australian screen industries. Our analysis reveals not only a significant growth in the number of explicit diversity interventions, but also observes recurring trends and areas of concern. These include an over emphasis on ‘empowering’ professional development or talent development style interventions that are individualised, small-scale, short-term, ad-hoc, and also relatively low cost and low stakes investments which often conflate ‘diverse’ with ‘emerging’; an emphasis on demographic parity as the primary rationales for ‘diversity’; and an emphasis on aspirational benefits of diversity over explanatory accounts of discrimination or inequality. Finally, reflecting on two high profile examples of explicit diversity policy, we argue that meaningful change is possible through focused, long-term institutional support that sets targets related to impact and influence.
Authors: Maura Edmond, Olivia Khoo
Institution: Monash University
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Monash University
OpenAlex ID: W7138868435