Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

Labor certainly did recognise the reforms that were announced in the budget. I have been referring to comments by the minister in relation to there being significantly less call on direct funding from the authority over time. I want to also raise with the minister representing the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts the issue of film documentaries. The new film package introduced in the budget included a producer rebate, which for documentaries means that producers will be able to apply for a rebate of 20 per cent of qualifying Australian production expenditure. This rebate allows for 40 per cent for feature film producers. However, the government has also stated:

Direct funding will continue to be an important element in Government support mechanisms, as an alternative to support through the taxation system.

The question is: will documentary producers have the capacity to access both the producer rebate and direct funding or will they be restricted to one or the other under the new film package introduced in the budget?

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