Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Last year Michael Douglas, the esteemed actor, 70 years old, made a comment about the fact that there were too many Australian actors taking key roles in American movies. The comment was made in response to an article that appeared in The Atlantic entitled 'The decline of the American actor'. The article asked why so many good roles have been going to actors from Australia, England and Canada. The Daily Telegraph said:

Of the top five TV series set to air on NBC this year—

that is last year—

three are headlined by Aussie actors, while no fewer than 15 different series — across both commercial and cable networks — also star actors from Down Under.

They talked about Melissa George, Damon Herriman, Matt Passmore, Clare Bowen, Luke Mitchell, Dichen Lachman, Caitlin Stasey and Adelaide Kane. They talked about a whole range of others in addition to the ones we already know, such as Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Geoffrey Rush, Chris Hemsworth, Mel Gibson and Anthony LaPaglia. So many Australian actors are making their name overseas and taking roles from American actors, as lamented by Michael Douglas.

These actors have been dubbed the Gumleaf Mafia, because they are taking all of these key roles that have traditionally gone to American actors. Why is that happening? Why are these plumb roles going to Australian actors rather than to American actors? A number of reasons have been cited, particularly about the men, but one of the key reasons that were cited by both Michael Douglas and the Daily Telegraph article is that most of the Australian actors are trained. They have honed their art. Although in Los Angeles there are lots of models who think that they can jump into acting roles just because they are good looking, Australian actors get roles because they have been trained. They have been trained through NIDA, the National Institute of Dramatic Art; through WAAPA, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts; and through the performing arts school in Victoria.

They have also been trained through a number of vocational education institutions right throughout this country. One of those institutions is the Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art, with whom I met this morning. It was a very interesting meeting, hearing about the impact that the government's views on VET are having on this fantastic institution that has been going for years and years and about the impact that the government's changes, including the delisting of the performing arts courses, could have on the future careers of a number of Canberrans.

Before going into the discussion I had today with the CADA people and some of its students, I will mention the impact that the creative industries have not just on the Australian economy but also on the Canberra economy. The figures I have for the Canberra economy are quite outdated—they are from 2012-13—and have been boosted by a number of events that have taken place as a result of the significant investment and effort by ScreenACT in recent years. I will quote from a document that was sent to me by CADA. It mentions the fact that creative industries contribute $90 billion per year to the Australian economy and that 5.3 per cent of Australia's workforce work in the creative industries. It is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Australian economy. Here in Canberra, for 2012-13:

… the direct output of the arts and the cultural sector in the ACT was estimated to be $974 million, of which arts was responsible for $361 million.

As I said, these figures are really outdated, because there has been so much activity here in the ACT in recent years. We have had The Code. There have now been two series of The Code that have been filmed here in the ACT. Another miniseries—and one of my colleagues is now smiling at me!—that has been filmed here in Canberra—

See this speech in context