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Airdate: Will Australia Ever Have A Black Prime Minister?

Actor Mark Coles Smith fronts a one-off special that poses a national question ahead of the federal election.

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Ahead of the federal election, ABC will screen Will Australia Ever Have A Black Prime Minister?.

Produced by Joined Up Films this is presented by actor Mark Coles Smith (Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Gods of Wheat Street, Hard Rock Medical, Last Cab to Darwin).

Modern Australia prides itself on being a diverse, multicultural nation. And rightly so. In the last fifty years, this country has evolved from one where race defined it, to one where the colour of a person’s skin is irrelevant. But how true is this? Is Australia the level playing we all like to imagine? Does a young Indigenous person today have a realistic chance of ascending to the highest office in the land?

Join Indigenous actor and musician Mark Coles Smith (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Last Cab to Darwin) as he investigates the likelihood of Australia ever having a black Prime Minister. As a young Indigenous man, who grew up in outback Australia, it’s a subject close to his heart.

Mark will examine our past leaders and analyse how they got to lead our country. He’ll expose some of the barriers that Indigenous Australians face, such as racism, housing, access to education, financial support and challenges to identity.

But he’ll also meet inspirational Australians who are working to close the gap, including proud Indigenous man Waverley Stanley, who provides scholarships to Indigenous kids so that they can attend our elite schools. Mark’s sister Malika is currently studying law at Sydney University, taking the same path as many of our past PM’s.

Stan Grant shares his thoughts on growing up Indigenous and reflects on how times have changed. Mark also meets one of our current serving parliamentarians Ken Wyatt from Western Australia, who explains that there is more than one road to take to become PM.

Crunching the numbers with Professor Yin Paradies from Deakin University, Mark discovers some shocking facts about life for an Indigenous Australian, from the level of education they will receive to how likely it is they may go to prison. It’s an eye-opening experience. Finally, he’ll learn the statistical probability of a young Indigenous Australian becoming Prime Minister.

7:40pm Sunday on ABC.

4 Responses

  1. I would be happy with a Good Prime Minister some time this century. Don’t mind the background as long as we can get a decent one

  3. We don’t even have the luxury of choosing who our Prime Minister is (so often they’re here today, gone tomorrow) so I think an idealistic and compassionate young leader like our neighbours in New Zealand is still worlds away. And if a certain omelette’s rise to power is any indication, I’m sure there are others who have exploited their way to their cushy taxpayer-funded position.

    I for one would be immensely proud if we were to have an idealistic, intelligent, and compassionate leader, indigenous or otherwise, but I strongly doubt that it will ever happen with our current system in place.

  4. This sounds excellent. Linda Burney is one current Indigenous politician that I think would make a wonderful PM. I hate to objectify him, but Mark Coles-Smith is very attractive 😉

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