Australia is one of the most ethnically diverse societies in the world today - but is it portrayed on our television screens?
New SBS program, The Family Law, which premieres on Thursday night, portrays the life of a Chinese-Australian family living on Australia's Sunshine Coast, through the eyes of 14-year-old Benjamin Law.
In an Australia first, the first episode was launched on Facebook before its premiere and attracted more than 1.1 million viewers.
Based on the real-life Law’s memoirs, also named The Family Law, the six-episode show begins at 8.30pm on Thursday night.
Actress Fiona Choi plays the role of Law’s boisterous mother Jenny, who juggles her role as a nurturer to her five children and her not-so-perfect marriage to Danny, played by Anthony Brandon Wong.
She said the portrayal of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds had progressed ever since she was young and had to play “spot the Asian” while watching shows like Neighbours and Home and Away.
Choi went on to play the character of Laura Wallace on Neighbours in 2001.
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"I was really lucky to be able to get a role on Neighbours when I was a lot younger and the big deal was that the name wasn't even an Asian name and no mention was made of the fact that she was Asian,” she said.
Media and Ethnic Diversity Expert, Professor Andrew Jakubowicz, said the new program was a breath of fresh air for Australian television.
“Particularly the Facebook launch and the conversations that came around that suggest that there are many, many hundreds of thousands of people around Australia who are breathing an unexpected sigh of relief at actually seeing themselves, or people like themselves, or people with the same problems and could be them actually portrayed and engaged with on screen,” he said.
“Many people in the industry use SBS as an excuse for not doing anything. They say you know SBS deals with multicultural stuff and we make stuff that deals with the rest.”
The Family Law airs tonight at 8.30pm.
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