This week, Australians have the opportunity to tune in to the country’s first ever all-Indigenous breakfast television show, Big Mob Brekky.
Launched to run during NAIDOC Week, Big Mob Brekky is hosted by journalists Shahni Wellington and Ryan Liddle, airing from 7.30am every morning this week on NITV.
In an Australian first, the show has an all Indigenous editorial team, and will cross to different locations across the country to hear from numerous special guests. It is being filmed live at Taronga Zoo on Cammeraygal country, and will focus on providing laughs, as well as all the latest in news and entertainment.
“We’re looking to shake up the everyday breakfast TV experience for viewers,” co-host Shahni Wellington told NITV.
“We’ll be bringing all the essentials of a good brekky show, but from an Indigenous perspective. We want all Australians to start each day in NAIDOC week hearing voices from our communities.”
With Indigenous presenters and editorial team, as well an Indigenous guests, Big Mob Brekky is breaking ground in a breakfast television landscape that is overwhelmingly white.
Its launch comes just months after research from Media Diversity Australia revealed that more than 75 per cent of presenters, commentators, and reporters on news and current affairs television programs in Australia have an Anglo-Celtic background. Just 6 per cent have an Indigenous or non-European background.
The research also showed that 100 per cent of national news directors on free-to-air television have an Anglo-Celtic background, and are male.
Big Mob Brekky co-host Shahni Wellington, a proud Jerrinja woman, has already had an extensive career in journalism, as a reporter for ABC Darwin, and more recently as NITV’s political correspondent, based in Canberra. She studied a Bachelor in Communication at the University of Newcastle, majoring in journalism and specialising in working with Aboriginal communities.
Ryan Liddle has a background in news television presenting and as a multi-media journalist at SBS. The pair have worked alongside each other in the past.
“I think we all know that we never get to see this sort of representation on morning telly,”Liddle said about the launch of the show. “I think Big Mob Brekky has come at the right time – in 2020 we want to see more Indigenous representation in the mainstream sector and this show will be a good example of that.”
“Shahni and I are looking forward to really getting people going in the morning, to start their day off with a smile, but also throw in a bit of education as well.”
Journalist Brooke Boney broke ground in Australian breakfast television in 2018, when she became the first Indigenous person to join a commercial breakfast television hosting team.
“Her profile has helped shine a light on issues and challenges and education in regards to that Indigenous sphere. We’re very proud of her and love to see her getting her thing done. Hopefully, we can see a few more faces in that place,” Liddle told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Along with a rotating panel of Indigenous guests, singer-songwriter and actor Elaine Crombie will be joining Big Mob Brekky daily to host wellness sessions, while Steve ‘Mungindi’ Ellis will host cooking segments.