Introduction: inclusion, exclusion and Australian television, past and present

This special issue of Media International Australia responds to an increasingly visible trend in the performing arts and screen industry in Australia that has identified diversity as a valuable cultural phenomenon and urges greater representation and access to work in the media for Australians of diverse backgrounds. Studies undertaken by Screen Australia (2016), the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (2016), and Diversity Arts Australia (2019) have emphasised that barriers to inclusion have resulted in a sector that has skewed what it represents of Australian society on screen.