If you've turned on SBS this week, you might have noticed there's a comedy back on TV about a Chinese-Australian family in the midst of divorce called The Family Law (yes, I co-wrote it and agree it's excellent, please nominate us for Logies).

Because it's still relatively new to see non-white people as main characters in drama or comedy, I'm often asked about diversity on Australian TV in interviews – a conversation I'm happy to have.

Benjamin Law. Credit:James Brickwood

"Still, don't we live in a white country?" interviewers sometimes say. "Isn't 'diversity' just being overly PC?" I get similar queries before I give talks about workplace diversity, too. "We live in a meritocracy. Isn't it reverse racism to look for non-white candidates? And isn't Australia, well, mostly white anyway?"

Recently, someone tweeted similar sentiments in response to an article noting the whiteness of a writers' festival audience. "It shouldn't be surprising that the audience is mostly white," the tweeter said. "If the stats I've read are correct the Aust population is 92 per cent white."