Alan Cadman (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Subscription Television Drama and Community Broadcasting Licences) Bill 2006 deals with subscription television and it follows a review that was done some time ago. The current provisions allow for a 10 per cent expenditure by subscription broadcasters on Australian drama. However, following the review, there have been proposals for change. The Broadcasting Services Act defines a subscription television drama service as a service devoted predominantly to drama programs—that is, more than 50 per cent of the programming consists of drama programs and includes such channels as Showtime, Fox 8 and UKTV. Some of the productions included are films such as The Proposition and drama series such as The Alice, McLeod’s Daughters and Love My Way. The subscription television industry spent $15.9 million on new Australian and New Zealand drama programs in 2004-05. There are 17 available subscription television drama channels: Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, Hallmark, the Disney Channel, Fox 8, Fox Kids/Classics, Movie Extras, Movie Greats, Movie One, Movie One Take 2, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Showtime 2, Encore, TV1 and UKTV.

Let me give the House some idea of the spread of these proposals. The review found that the local documentary production sector remains well supported but that we need to give more attention to the drama provisions. That is what this legislation does: it encourages the use of Australian drama at 10 per cent of all programming. It does not sound like too much; it is only a bit over three per cent of actual airtime. The review, apart from looking at drama, looked at documentaries. One might say, ‘Why not include documentaries in this as well?’ but the review found that documentaries were well catered for. The production centre remains well supported, with 62 per cent of finance provided through direct and indirect government sources. The sector is fully supported by broadcast quotas for commercial free-to-air broadcasters. The subscription TV sector already invests significantly in Australian documentary production without a formal requirement for us to do any more. This legislation moves to change some of the provisions of drama production.

New Zealand is included in these provisions. One may ask, ‘Why do the Kiwis get a run under Australian regulations and legislation?’ Under the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Trade Agreement, the CER—the scope of which includes the production of programs for television and broadcasting of programs on television—New Zealander and services provided by New Zealanders—

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