Walking through the halls of Old Parliament House, it seems appropriate that we walk by a display about women in parliament.
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While this visit to the Museum of Australian Democracy isn't to take a walk through political history, in a way, it's to see how a fictional comment on the political reality is created.
It's the second-last day of filming in Canberra for ABC's drama Total Control, a series that follows two female politicians - played by Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths - as they navigate life in politics .
It's a weekday so everything outside the closed set is quiet. Most people are too busy at work or school to take a trip to this piece of political history.
But once you walk through the closed section of Old Parliament House, you find a set that's a hive of activity. People are walking between the former House of Representatives - that is now a stand-in for the current one on television - and the surrounding rooms, carrying props, make-up, lighting - anything and everything that is needed to reset the shot.
In the middle of it all is the video village - the collection of monitors that show what the cameras are picking up. It's here that Mailman, along with producers and director Wayne Blair - who also plays politician Paul Murphy in the show - watch as Griffths and some of the other actors act out one of the final scenes in season two.
There's a certain buzz on set. There always is - a film set is not exactly what you would call a laidback work environment. This, however, is a little different. There's a genuine joy in what people are doing, and more to the point, relief to be able to be back doing it.
COVID has not been kind to TV shows such as this one. It has delayed the return of the second season and even saw the show "recast" the rural Queensland town of Winton for Broken Hill, simply because of border restrictions.
Luckily, they were able to continue filming in Canberra. It is hard to film a show about Australian politics without having access to the capital city, after all.
"To finally be able to get here and get the cameras rolling, I think it was a huge relief all around and a great excitement to tell the story again," Mailman says.
It's been two years since Total Control first hit screens, introducing Australians to Alex Irving (Mailman) the single mum from regional Queensland who is invited to take a seat in the Senate by prime minister Rachel Anderson (Griffiths) when one becomes unexpectedly vacant. It's a power play. The prime minister wants votes and Alex has just been hailed a hero for standing up to a gunman on a domestic violence rampage.
One season on, however, Rachel is no longer prime minister - outed after Alex brought to light the death in custody of an Indigenous prisoner. Meanwhile, the fallout sees Alex move away from the Senate and instead set her sights on the House of Representatives, all while trying to navigate the emotional fallout from season one.
"It feels like this season has a bit more emotional stakes. Things take a bit of an emotional toll on Alex this time around," Mailman says.
"That sort of work-life imbalance ripples all the way through season two. And I think there are moments where you see Alex's armour slightly cracking under the pressure of everything.
"It's a domino effect that we're starting to see play out with Alex and not only Alex, her family as well with (her son) Eddie and (brother) Charlie. I think that also plays out with Rachel Griffiths' character, Rachel Anderson.
"There's a real human side to politics, and we often forget that. These are people who have sacrificed a lot in order to serve. And I think it's really important that this show shows that."
But it is more than just the emotional impacts the events of season one have left. It is the societal ones as well.
While Total Control starts to delve into how these characters are coping after their careers go off track - in such a public way - it also shows how the revelation of the death in custody has affected the public. As the first few scenes play out, it does so with reports of riots and protests in the background. People are, understandably, angry about what has happened.
It's not such a far cry from the Black Lives Matter protests of last year. One may even be forgiven for thinking reality had influenced fiction.
However, the script was not only well on its way before the events of last year, it was already set up in season one.
The similarities come from the fact that the show was influenced by what it means to be Indigenous in this country, full stop. What was predicted in the show is just what has snowballed from there.
"It's a reality, and an existence that the show really wanted to highlight. This is our existence, this is our reality," Mailman says.
"Even just in terms of regional and rural communities, and the hardships of what it means to live in these areas, I love that the show shines a bit of a damning light on communities being forgotten, where there's no investment, no funding, no programs.
"And not having the funding to support the issues that matter to people out in the bush. So I love that the story looks at that as well."
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It takes a certain type of show to depict some of these issues. Show the vignettes of what it is like for people living through a drought, for example. The mothers who need to bathe their children in bottled water because the bore water affects their skin.
Or the farmer who takes his own life because he can't afford his mortgage.
These are issues and conversations that do not live solely on the television screen. But to be able to depict them with such honesty, you need to be able to go into these communities that are affected.
Mailman remembers a moment while filming in Broken Hill, talking to a local, where this was her reality.
"She was saying this is exactly what we've been dealing with and are continuing to deal with," she says.
"As much as you don't want to hear that, 'Oh my God, this show is ringing true on so many levels', it was nice to hear from someone ... [grateful to] you for putting this conversation front and centre, because this is what they've been dealing with for so long.
"It's why we can't be dicks about this. We are going into other people's spaces or public spaces, we're filming in communities, we're going into people's homes to tell these stories.
"So we have to make sure that we're not getting above ourselves, and we're coming in as a big film crew, because we are coming in as part of an existing space and we're coming into people's lives."
- Total Control season two will air on ABC on Sunday at 8.40pm.
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