Karla Grant

Karla Grant is the presenter and executive producer of Living Black, SBS TV’s prime-time national Indigenous current affairs program. With a long history presenting, producing, reporting and directing Indigenous media, she represent the interests and concerns of indigenous Australians.

In demand as an MC, facilitator and public speaker, Karla regularly contributes stories to a wide range of publications. She lends her support to various groups around women’s and children’s rights, to the LGBTQI community and actively works to help facilitate more Indigenous people in the media industry.

Karla Grant has dedicated a huge part of her career to working in Indigenous news and current affairs, witnessing and reporting on the shifts in policy and attitude towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In doing so, she is fulfilling a lifetime dream to represent the interests and concerns of indigenous Australians.

Karla started at SBS over 20 years ago, as a presenter, producer, reporter and director of the Walkley award-winning ICAM (Indigenous Current Affairs Magazine) program. She was appointed Executive Producer of the network’s Indigenous Media Unit and from there she developed the concept for Living Black and began hosting the program in 2003. At the same time, Karla held the position of Executive Editor of NITV’s Indigenous News and Current Affairs, overseeing the editorial for all of its news and current affairs programs.

Karla has produced TV specials on reconciliation, land rights and the Federal election as well as crafting documentaries on the Survival concerts. For seven years, she was Executive Producer of SBS’s coverage of The Deadly Awards, the national awards for Indigenous excellence in music, sport, entertainment and community service. She regularly devotes her time to volunteer in her community and is a member of the NRL’s Indigenous Council, furthering her commitment to the game of rugby league and ensuring representation of Indigenous men and women at all levels of the game.

Before joining SBS, Karla worked as a producer, director, reporter and presenter of Channel 10’s Aboriginal Australia, a national Aboriginal magazine program. She also worked for a leading production house in Canberra and hosted a weekly show on community radio station 2XX.

A keen long-distance runner and athlete, Karla was born in Adelaide to a Dutch father and an Aboriginal mother. She is a proud Arrernte woman and is passionate about giving Indigenous Australians a voice.

In 2018, Karla was the co-recipient at the Kennedy Awards, picking up the John Newfong Award for Excellence in Indigenous Reporting for The Point program. She was also awarded a First Nations Media Award for Best Interview for her Living Black half hour interview with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.