The lack of cultural diversity in many realms of Australian society, such as politics, the media and creative arts, is both a low hum in the background for many of us associated with these sectors, and an issue of cyclical mainstream relevance.
During one such cycle in 2012, actors Jay Laga'aia and Firass Dirani spoke up about the absence of multicultural actors in Australian-made dramas. Their complaint garnered some mainstream attention, and a certain current affairs show decided to produce an episode on it. When the producer rang me at the time for a comment as a co-convenor of the Asian Australian Film Forum and Network, I pointed to the paucity of culturally diverse leadership as one of the root causes of the problem.
Since then, we have had global momentum around the #Oscarssowhite hashtag, with ripple effects in Australia leading to the 'Seeing Ourselves' report by Screen Australia in 2016. There is more advocacy for culturally diverse representation all round, even though the categories that should have enabled this have been around for much longer in arts policy.
For instance, the term 'Culturally and Linguistically Diverse' (CALD) was introduced in Australia in 1996 by the Ministerial Council of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, to replace the designation 'Non-English Speaking Background' (NESB). Among other issues, NESB was perceived as ascribing negative connotations to non-Anglo communities. Other multicultural societies use variations of such monikers: Canada has 'visible minorities', while the UK prefers 'Black and Asian Minority Ethnic' (BAME). While the latter terms may be seen as more specific than Australia's CALD, they have been critiqued in domestic contexts.
A recent groundbreaking report on the lack of CALD representation in arts leadership in Australia is called 'Shifting the Balance' and recognises the limitations of the CALD label. According to Diversity Arts Australia (DARTS) CEO Lena Nahlous, 'we recognise that terms like CALD — used to categorise non-Anglo migrant cultural identity — are both limited and problematic, because they have been constituted by discourses that homogenise and erase economic, political and other intersections of identity and power'.
Launching the report, ABC radio presenter Beverley Wang remarked that this label cast her and breakfast television host Karl Stefanovic (of non-Anglo ancestry) as equals. At the same time, DARTS and other organisations insist on the practical need for a category like CALD to set benchmarks.
As a student of postcolonial theory, I was introduced to the concept of 'strategic essentialism' and continue to