Key Points
- After more than a decade off-air, Australian Idol is returning in 2023, but its all-white lineup has raised eyebrows..
- Viewers have also objected to the decision to give Kyle Sandilands a platform, saying they won't be tuning in.
Viewers have criticised the lack of cultural diversity in the judging and presenter lineup of Australian Idol 2023.
The Australian format of the competition television series is making a comeback after a more than 10-year hiatus.
The all-white panel of judges and presenters has raised eyebrows among viewers.
Controversial radio host Kyle Sandilands will be the only returning judge. He will be joined by Australian indie pop singer-songwriter Amy Shark and American singers Harry Connick Jr and Meghan Trainor.
The presenters will be former Australian Idol contestant Ricki-Lee Coulter - who placed seventh in the 2004 series - and Australian television host Scott Tweedie.
Viewers have to give Kyle Sandilands , saying they .
The shock jock's response to a commercial radio stunt in 2009 sparked complaints to the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
A 14-year-old girl - dragged on the 2Day FM radio show by her mother - revealed she had been raped, to which Mr Sandilands said: "Right ... is that the only experience you’ve had?"
Former American Idol judge Harry Connick Jr said on Twitter he was "excited" to join the judging panel and "can't wait to find Australia's next big music superstar".
In 2009, he objected to a blackface skit on the Hey Hey It's Saturday show involving five men wearing black face paint and wigs to portray the 'Jackson Jive'.
He said at the time he would not have participated as a judge on the segment had he been aware of it.
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On social media, viewers responded to the publicity headshots of judges and presenters to announce the show's relaunch. Some said the nostalgia of growing up with the show, would have them watching, despite the inclusion of Mr Sandilands.
But there was also criticism of the "all-white" lineup.
"They legitimately had a more diverse judging panel back in 2003 (one woman of colour and three white guys which is still not good enough) than they do now this is just sad," .
Indian-born director/producer Ana Tiwary, based in Sydney, has been working to promote multicultural storytelling on Australian screens for the past 15 years.
She said the casting choice was a missed opportunity to connect with the culturally diverse Australian audience.
"The casting of these judges makes the show feel really outdated," she told SBS News.
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"It risks losing audience engagement. If you look at shows like Masterchef [Australia] - it has done so well with its ratings and reach because of the [cultural] diversity of participants and the judges.
"It is so important in pop culture, and on shows like this, for people to see diversity. It's a certain demographic that doesn't get to see it. And it's not real Australia that they are showcasing. There is so much diversity out there."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics show the proportion of migrants who were either born overseas or who are second-generation has grown exponentially.
The group of Australians born overseas increased from 18 per cent of the population in 1911 to almost 30 per cent in 2021. In 2021, the proportion of Australians who both parents - or at least one parent - born overseas was 42.2 per cent.
Through her role moderating the Facebook group Diversity in Australian Media, she has been helping to promote the commissioning and casting of non-white actors, including members of the South Asian diaspora, which include some of the .
"It is frustrating when I hear people say that they just can't find the talent; or people are not experienced enough. I am surrounded by highly talented, multicultural people who are not getting the opportunities that they deserve.
Sydney-based director and producer Ana Tiwary is calling for cultural diversity quotas within the discussion to boost the quota of Australian-made shows, saying "organic change" has been too slow. Credit: Ana Tiwary
"And more importantly, it's the multicultural creators who have such interesting, fascinating, important stories to tell. And they're just not getting the opportunity. They're being overlooked."
Australian screen producers are in Canberra this week lobbying for the introduction of local content quotas on streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.
Ms Tiwary says within that conversation, quotas should also be considered to ensure cultural diversity - in commissioning, salaries and career opportunities.
"The issue is where does the funding flow? Who gets the money to tell their own stories?
"Our taxpayers are multicultural, and our audiences are multicultural, right? But then something happens in the middle [of the process] where public funding ends up going to make shows that are monocultural.
"The solution is to not just try to make multicultural shows on the surface, but to really fund multicultural producers to make sure stories are told authentically - through their own lens.
"What we don't want to see is multicultural Australia through a white lens - or in ways that the shows are whitewashed."
She reflects on the "shock" of seeing the state of cultural diversity on Australian screens 15 years ago when she started working in the industry fresh from time abroad in the United States, Canada and the UK.
"It was so monocultural. It was a real shock."
"I saw so much diversity on the street; and I saw so little diversity on our screens.
"There is a huge problem in Australia. There's so many beautiful stories that are not being told."
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Over the years, she has worked to change that, but she said many entrenched barriers remain.
Ms Tiwary said sub-quotas within a proposed quota for Australian-made stories would help to include more voices from disability, LGBTIQ+ and culturally diverse communities.
"If we really look at it, diversity is not just putting diverse people on screen, or diverse people in the writers' room, or diverse people working on the crew.
"Real diversity is if the profits, the credit and everything that's flowing from the shows is going to diverse producers and companies. It is only then that there is a whole ecology and ecosystem that is sustaining creation of diverse work."
Despite the trolling and backlash she has faced for voicing the need for change, she says she remains determined to be vocal.
"How we tell our stories on screens has great implications for social cohesion; and for how young people growing up see themselves and the types of careers they can pursue.
"Over a lifetime, people can lose millions of dollars in earnings and income, because of racism, discrimination in the workforce; and because of perceptions created by media.
"We can change that. We have to change that."
