Australian television puts diversity on top of the agenda for one night only

The Logies, the so-called night of nights of Australian television, has rarely been a bastion of diversity throughout the award's more than 50-year history.

On Sunday, this changed.

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Two powerful speeches took on the racism, sexism and negativity prevalent in Australian entertainment — something that has never quite been addressed by the wider television industry, let alone by the Logies itself.

It's a refreshing change for an evening where the thanking of agents, casts and family members is the common theme of acceptance speeches — not politics. For one night, Australia was made to face these issues head on.

"No child is born a bigot."

A "misty eyed" Noni Hazlehurst, an actress and television presenter for 43 years, led the charge by addressing the negativity commonplace in today's media landscape. 

Hazlehurst lamented that poisonous attitudes were affecting the young audience that watched Play School, the children's show Hazlehurst used to helm.

"For many decades, Play School has been an icon. An oasis, a safe haven for small children ... I started to see a world through a preschooler's eyes to see how free and unafraid they are to just be," Hazlehurst said.

"They haven't yet been conditioned. But also how easily frightened and overwhelmed they are, how easily abused, and particularly how empathetic they are. No child is born a bigot."

Hazlehurst spoke about how easy it once was to shelter children from the "bombardment" of violence and negativity that plagued the news, but suggested today that isn't the case. "The TV landscape when I started Play School in '78 was different. Four channels, no 24/7 news, no 24/7 anything," she said.

"It was easier to protect children from images or information they couldn't assimilate. With the explosion of technology and proliferation of screens we can't escape exposure of bad news and violent images — they're everywhere, [at] the dentist, on the buses."

Hazlehurst, who noted she is only the second woman to be inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame, highlighted the changes in the Australian television industry.

"Things are changing. They're changing glacially slowly. The great thing about glaciers if you're not on them, you go under. I've been riding that glacier for 40 years. And I'm staying on top of it," she said.

Hazlehurst finished her speech with a pitch for a television channel that highlights only the good happening around the world.

"I'd love a channel that features nothing but stories that inspire us and reassure us and our children that there are good things happening and good people in the world. I know it's a lot to ask for," she said.

"But at the very least a show that tries to redress this overwhelming imbalance, that counters bad news with good, that encourages optimism not pessimism, that restores our empathy and love for our fellow human beings and the earth, that redefines reality, that heals our hearts — and by the way I'm available."

"There is absolutely no reason that can't change."

Even before Sunday night, there was plenty of chatter about Waleed Aly, a practicing Muslim of Egyptian heritage and presenter on television show The Project, who was nominated for the Gold Logie — the award night's top prize. One bizarre article even sought to explain why he shouldn't win.

Nevertheless, Aly spectacularly took out the Gold Logie, using his speech to address the issue of cultural diversity in Australia's media.

"This is happening, it's true. Finally a male presenter on commercial TV has won the Gold Logie," he joked.

Full of humility, Aly addressed how winning the award didn't matter to him so much as people like him. Some of whom he had met very recently.

"There have been a lot of people in the past week or two who have made it clear to me that me being here right now — really matters to them.

"It matters to them for a particular reason. That reason was brought home shatteringly not so long ago. Actually, someone who is in this room — and I'm not going to use the name they use — in the industry, came up to me introduced themselves and said to me, 'I really hope you win. My name is Mustafa. But I can't use that name because I won't get a job.'

"He's here tonight. And it matters to people like that that I am here. I know it's not because of me. I know that," he said.

Aly ended his address by dedicating his award to those "with unpronounceable names," telling them that they deserve much better than hiding their real names for fear of being shut out by their peers.

"To Dimitri and Mustafa, and everyone else with unpronounceable names like Waleed," he said. "I just want to say one thing, that is I am incredibly humble you would even think to invest in me that way, but I'm also incredibly saddened by it because the truth is — you deserve more numerous and more worthy avatars than that. I don't know if and when that's going to happen. 

"But if tonight means anything, and I don't know if it means anything, but if tonight means anything is that the Australian public — our audience — as far as they're concerned there is absolutely no reason why that can't change."

Aly and Hazlehurst have thrown down the gauntlet to Australian media — time will tell if the country pays attention for more than one night.