Hang on a sec, I thought SBS was meant to boost diverse voices

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Multicultural Australia is about to experience a huge cultural loss: SBS Voices, an online platform that showcases personal essays from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) writers, is ceasing operations.

As a writer of Cypriot descent who has been a substantial contributor to the site since its inception five years ago, I was heartbroken to hear the news. SBS told me of the decision via email, saying it wanted to put its focus on streaming services. The wording on the site was updated 24 hours later: “SBS Voices is no longer commissioning new content, but you can continue to explore all of the stories and perspectives shared at sbs.com.au/voices.”

SBS is no longer commissioning new content for online platform SBS Voices.Credit: Gabriele Charotte

In a statement sent to this masthead, an SBS spokesperson said: “This is a decision that has not been taken lightly, but like all organisations, SBS must make difficult choices about how we evolve our offering, prioritise how we invest our available resources and respond to shifting audience needs and preferences, while continuing to deliver our Charter.”

One has to question if the move to shut down SBS Voices is in breach of that charter. As spelt out in the Special Broadcasting Services Act 1991, the national, government-funded broadcaster was established to “contribute to meeting the communications needs of Australia’s multicultural society”. Its principal function under the charter is to “provide multilingual and multicultural broadcasting and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society”.

Surely SBS Voices’ raison d’etre – to be the “home of storytelling reflecting modern, multicultural Australia, with a focus on elevating under-represented voices” – more than meets those criteria.

For migrant communities, SBS Voices is an essential platform. It brings together different ethnicities to generate conversation around the migrant experience for first, second and third generations, and in doing so bridges gaps to create a more unified Australia.

Veteran newsreader Lee Lin Chin said she quit SBS after being told of junior staff being bullied.Credit: SBS

The site is also an important springboard for marginalised writers in a media landscape dominated by Anglo-Celtic Australians. This group made up 78 per cent of appearances on news and current affairs TV programs over a two-week survey period in June 2022, while comprisingjust 54 per cent of the population, according to Media Diversity Australia’s Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories 2.0 report.

SBS Voices, which has no equivalent, opens doors for diverse writers so they can be noticed by book publishers and the wider arts and media sector. A 2022 report from Victoria University found that only 7 per cent of Australian authors identified as people of colour, despite representing about 25 per cent of the population. The closing of SBS Voices only exacerbates the lack of CALD representation in our arts and media.

According to SBS’ annual report, 59 per cent of its employees identify as culturally diverse. But there have been numerous allegations from former staff – among them icon Lee Lin Chin, Indigenous writer Kodie Bedford, and Pallavi Jain – of bullying and racism at work. A multicultural broadcaster criticised for the treatment of diverse staff should not be closing down an outlet where these voices can be amplified.

The closure of SBS Voices is a consequence of SBS not being held accountable. If diversity quotas were introduced and enforced years ago, if SBS was truly run by multicultural Australia, we would not be having this conversation. SBS is one of the few spaces where multicultural Australia can thrive. This is its purpose. It is time for government intervention, as closing SBS Voices will have a ripple effect felt painfully in our wider community for years to come.

Koraly Dimitriadis is a Cypriot-Australian writer and performer and the author of the poetry books Love and F— Poems and Just Give Me the Pills.

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