Rob Mills argues that Neighbours should be saved, and opens up about why Australian stories need to be told.

Video transcript

ROB MILLS: Look, I think it's-- they're wrapping up at the moment. There's another couple of months to go. I was just talking to the director-- one of the directors-- the other day, He said it's a sad sort of vibe down there at the moment. But they're doing the best that they can with the storylines and trying to, I suppose, tie it all off nicely at the end.

Look, I think it is sad, but it could be a reflection on how we spend our money or how this government spends money on the arts. So it is pretty sad.

Look, there's an election coming up. I'm not saying, like, if Labor government was in that they would save "Neighbours," but they would definitely, I think-- there'd be a bit more-- a bit more done just to help out the arts, especially after the last couple of years. So, yeah, it is sad, though. It's 37 years or something of the longest-running soap on television.

RACHEL CHOY: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

ROB MILLS: But, look, if England is gonna make more-- they want to save their money to make more English programs, then maybe that's the example that they're setting. And maybe that's what we should be doing, as well, is keep telling these Australian stories, instead of buying stuff from overseas.

And find a way to use the money to keep telling Australian stories, which I think "Neighbours" has done for such a very long time. Normalized a lot of things. Like, it was the first show to have a gay-- a gay wedding. Same-sex marriage. It has a trans actor on the show at the moment. It has a super diverse cast.

RACHEL CHOY: Yeah.

ROB MILLS: I think it's done a really good job of normalizing things without shining a spotlight on things, but just, like, normalizing it. And I think that's a really--

RACHEL CHOY: Like it's just part of the world there. Yeah.

ROB MILLS: Correct, correct. Yeah, yeah, it is. And that's the world that we live in in Australia. And I think it's a-- I think it's a really good ad campaign for Australia, as well.