Both Your Houses: Representation and Power Relations in 'Total Control'

Charting an Indigenous woman's rise from obscurity to the Senate, this TV series – directed by Rachel Perkins, and starring Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths – effectively dramatises the conflicts, compromises, backstabbing and personal ambitions inherent to the modern Australian political system. As Jake Wilson finds, the show also reflects the daunting, unwinnable position often faced by members of marginalised groups who seek to enter public life.

Additional keywords:
Queensland, Canberra, Aboriginal, Liberal Party, racism, gender, Indigenous detention, Don Dale Youth Detention centre, royal commission, Nova Peris, Mehreen Faruqi, Jacqui Lambie, Julia Gillard, Charles Perkins, Frank Capra, Raymond Durgnat, Louis Nowra, Radiance, First Fleet, US military base, Charles Chauvel, Jedda