Home and Away airs newcomer Mali Hudson's first scenes as his connection to Dean is revealed

 Kyle Shilling joins the show's cast.

Home and Away has introduced newcomer Mali Hudson in the show's latest Australian episode.

Last month, the long-running soap announced that Kyle Shilling had joined the cast in the role of Mali, who'd have a connection with an established favourite.

With the show now back from its Christmas break, Wednesday's episode (January 11) on Channel 7 in Australia confirmed that Kyle is a friend and business contact of Dean Thompson.

When Mali turned up in the Bay, Dean introduced him to his partner Ziggy Astoni. It turned out that Mali is a surfboard shaper, who designs and builds the boards at Dean's shop.

John Palmer was one of the first Summer Bay residents to introduce himself, questioning Mali on whether he'd like to join the surf lifesaver team. Mali expressed his doubts as he doesn't live close enough to Summer Bay.

As Dean and Ziggy continued to chat to Mali at Salt, they realised that there might be a specific reason for his visit. However, Mali initially held back from telling them about what was going on.

New cast member Kyle is from the Widjabul clan of the Bundjalung Nation. Home and Away bosses have worked with an Aboriginal script consultant while devising plans for his character Mali.

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Kyle recently told Perth Now: "If I had seen someone like me on a popular TV show when I was a kid, I would have been more driven as a young person to want to better myself and explore acting.

"As Indigenous people, we are always categorised as athletes; there was never any other avenue I thought I could go down. When you feel like you're stereotyped your whole life, that has a huge effect.

"Looking back on my 10-year-old self, if I had seen someone like Mali Hudson on such a big series, I would have wanted to be him."

Home and Away fans in the UK will see Mali's first scenes in March.

Home and Away airs weekdays at 1.45pm on Channel 5 and 6pm on 5STAR. First-look screenings air at 6.30pm on 5STAR and the show also streams on My5.