Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, on the inquiry into the Australian film and television, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I'll be as brief as possible; I know the hour. The Australian film and television industry plays an important role in telling the stories that help to foster our cultural identity and also makes a significant economic contribution to the nation. There are however significant technological changes and other issues impacting on its future growth and sustainability.

On-demand platforms such as Amazon and Netflix have transformed the way Australians access their screen content. Cinema and television are no longer as dominant due to this audience disruption although they remain an important part of this industry.

This inquiry was a timely examination of the policy settings that underpin our domestic screen industry, including tax incentives and Australian content quotas. Direct funding by Screen Australia, international co-production treaties, and the Foreign Actor Certification Scheme were also reviewed.

The committee has made 13 recommendations to government to help secure the future growth and sustainability of the Australian screen industry. Those recommendations include: a single harmonised producer offset of 30 per cent for all Australian screen productions, which is a 50 per cent increase in the current rebate for television programs and non-cinematic features; an increase in the location offset from 16.5 per cent to 30 per cent to ensure Australia can effectively compete for large-scale international productions; a requirement for subscription-on-demand companies such as Netflix to invest 10 per cent of their revenue earned in Australia on new Australian content; a 50 per cent reduction in the overall children's Australian content quota for commercial broadcasters, but a requirement for this to be filled principally with live action drama; the replacement of the hours based quotas for new children's content with a contestable fund to ensure the future production of high-quality Australian drama for children; a children's Australian content quota for the ABC and a requirement that SBS show a minimum of 50 per cent Australian content across all of its channels; a requirement that 10 per cent of Screen Australia's funding be earmarked for productions filmed in regional areas outside of Sydney and Melbourne; and removal of the unnecessary red-tape obligation to consult the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance before permitting a foreign actor to work in Australia. It was complete red tape in relation to that.

I want to thank the whole industry for their contribution—in particular, Screen Producers Australia and Screen Australia—and everyone who made submissions to the inquiry. There were some confidential submissions. I really appreciate everything that you did. I also want to thank the committee secretariat—Stephen Boyd, Kilian Perrem and Emma Banyer—as well as my own staff member Sue Quinn. I also want to thank the opposition members. We worked very closely as a committee—the member for Corangamite was also on my committee. We came up with the topic and worked as closely as possible on a bipartisan issue. It is a little bit disappointing that there is a dissenting report. On this side of the House we made some changes and some recommendations that may not necessarily even be popular with government but we felt were in the best interests to grow the industry. I think on the other side they squibbed it a bit. But I did enjoy working with the deputy chair and the other two members on the committee.

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