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Justine Clarke has never been one to shy away from a tricky job. In her latest role, in season three of the ABC’s Austin , which follows a 28-year-old man with autism (played by Michael Theo ) navigating life and love, she plays his mother-in-law, Lesley – a trad-wife married to a far-right podcaster.
In the ABC’s Shakedown she plays Colleen Taylor, a Centrelink worker embroiled in the Morrison government’s devastating robo-debt scandal.
“She represents the human conscience inside a broken system that took hold of so many,” says Clarke, who set herself the challenge of learning how the Centrelink system actually worked as part of her research for the role. “It gave me even more respect for public servants and how they very quickly master new policy that changes with the whim of each government.”
The scheme, intended to automate compliance within the Centrelink system, resulted in hundreds of thousands of computer-generated debt notices being sent to Australians – some to people who did not owe any money. It devastated households nationwide, causing psychological harm to the point of suicide, in some cases.
Shakedown takes the subject head-on. “It’s about real people and real consequences and how it reflects our sense of identity,” says Clarke, who wants to see more Australian productions shining a light on people who may not be able to speak up for themselves – particularly around welfare. “We need to keep talking about how to help our most vulnerable,” she says.
Clarke is one of those rare performers who approaches adult and children’s entertainment with equal alacrity. She’s enjoyed a full-spectrum career that’s as much about music as it is about acting. On top of releasing and touring seven children’s albums, she’s spent the better part of her life in front of the camera.
Her first credited role was on the 1984 television series The Maestro’s Company . Just a year later she would work alongside Mel Gibson on Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , which also starred the late Tina Turner.
The actor was 12 when she played desert urchin Anna Goanna. She was obsessed with Turner’s album Private Dancer , which had been released the previous year. The assistant director on the film knew what a fan Clarke was and set up a one-on-one in Turner’s trailer. “It was a very short meeting,” says Clarke. “She was sitting in her bus, she had a candle burning and she was meditating. Just this strong, all-enveloping energy of calm and strength. She was a goddess.”
It might have been a short encounter but it left a big impression. “She was what we hope elders will be in our lives. But so often they’re not.”
Clarke has, in her own way, become a bit of a living idol herself – at the very least for children under five. She’s been charming kids since 1999 on the ABC’s long-running Play School . “ Pl ay School’s a feeling for kids,” says Clarke. “You feel a sense of safety, calm and that you’re seen, you know?”
The children’s program, which has been on air since 1966, has been credited as a real training ground for young Australian actors. Making children’s television that mixes art, craft, song and storytelling is a unique skill.
“I think it’s the essence of direct storytelling,” says Clarke. “Not everyone can do it. Even incredible actors. It’s a particular kind of mode where you have to look down the barrel and try to connect with one person, which is quite different to a room full of people. You’ve either got it or you don’t. But it’s enormous fun.”
When touring her albums, she’d always go out after the shows and meet every kid that she could. “I think that they have a relationship to you on a screen, but there’s something about them seeing you as an actual human like everybody else that’s really important,” she says. “So it’s this mixture of wonder and curiosity about how you got out of the television.”
Her latest album, Mimi’s Symphony (released in 2025), was a collaboration with Sydney composer George Ellis. The pair, who met on ABC TV’s The Justine Clarke Show! almost 10 years ago, set out to create an orchestra story comparable to Peter and the Wolf , only using Australian landscapes and characters kids could identify with.
“I didn’t know I would love performing for kids,” she says. “And it’s just the most beautiful thing, to see parents engaging with their children in this joyful setting that’s all about music. I do love tapping into my inner four-year-old, that sense of wonder and innocence and joy in the world.”
If there’s any discernible difference between performing for adults and performing for kids, it’s that kids are the far more unforgiving crowd. “I’ve learned a lot from children. They don’t have any sense of etiquette,” says Clarke, who reckons it’s a bit like performing for a rowdy but enthusiastic pub audience. “They talk, they wee, they sleep, they heckle, they leave … and you’ve gotta keep going. They’re like tiny little drunks.”
At the time of our interview, she was performing in her final weeks of Girls & Boys with the Sydney Theatre Company, a one-woman show that delves into the intricacies of marriage and escalates into full psychological horror. Clarke was initially drawn to the text out of fear for it.
Since 2022 her only theatre experiences have been working relatively solo. “In terms of holding a show and delivering, it’s been the last four years of my life, every year. I’ve done quite long seasons, too.”
I wonder if she ever gets lonely up there, but she says it’s impossible to feel alone when the audience is there for the ride, feeding her energy. It’s that juice that Clarke bounces off each night in her performances.
“I feel the weight of it. But that’s different, I think. Once I’m on stage, the audience becomes my scene partner, and they’re fabulous,” she says. “They’re amazing because they don’t know what’s gonna happen next.”
She describes the job of being a supporting performer on stage as a great expenditure of energy, compared with working as the main draw – particularly for women. “A lot of roles for women are about emotion,” she says. “So you’ve got to generate a lot of heightened emotion. And I realised how much work that is.”
The difference in being on stage alone is a sense of communion with the audience from beginning to end. “It’s what, I guess, a lot of male actors have felt for a long time. That was a revelation, in a way.”
It’s stage work that tends to give Clarke the greatest amount of spiritual feedback. “There’s something about being in the moment with people that is a direct exchange,” she says. “There’s no one in the way, once you’re in there and you’re locked into your seat. It’s a human exchange.”
The delicacy of playing another person of profile who has a relationship with the public weighs heavily on the actor. It’s especially challenging when that person is still alive. Inhabiting a personality such as Julia Gillard (“everybody has a relationship to her”) for the hit one-woman show Julia , produced by Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre, was a big challenge.
“I think, for women, we all felt part of her story because she was the first [female] leader of our country. For the first time, we could imagine it because we were seeing it,” says Clarke, who was buoyed by how many women brought their daughters along to see the play. From the stage, she says, she could feel the grief and the rage.
“We were drawn to her in a way that was outside of politics. It was our story as well. That speech became something greater; it became about our social history. Not just political, which is what makes it so extraordinary. And bitter and disappointing.”
At 55, she describes herself as the ‘sandwich generation’ – those who still have teenagers to tend to at home while taking on the extra responsibilities of caring for ageing parents.
Hitting her 50s completely changed her outlook on life. “You lose a sense of black and white; right and wrong; you know, success and failure. All of the opposites just lose their meaning. That’s how I’ve experienced it,” she says.
“It can be confusing but it’s also kind of great. It just means that you don’t put that sort of pressure on yourself any more.”
Austin is airing now. Shakedown airs November 22. Both are on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Fashion editor: Penny McCarthy. Hair and make-up: Heidi Scarlett King. Styling assistant: Liz Hoffmann. Stockists: Jac + Jack ; Lee Mathews ; Oroton ; Tony Bianco .
