Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Gellibrand on the Australian gaming industry. But, before speaking to the motion on the Australian gaming industry, I want to put a couple of things on the record. The member for Gellibrand and I have had a couple of battles, we have had a couple of games—most recently in this building, when the Parliamentary Friends of Video Games had a competition here. One of the great local stories of the Australian gaming industry, Big Ant Studios—which I will come back to in a second—came and brought the Australian Open game, AO Tennis, which is one of my favourite games, and put it on here in this place. If memory serves me correctly, Deputy Speaker Rob Mitchell, I believe you were also there and competitive in AOTennis; the member for Chifley was there and was also competitive; and the member for Hotham was there—and she was slightly more competitive than the member for Chifley. The member for Gellibrand came in and, let the record show, he talked a very big game but didn't get the chocolates! Macnamara, which is the home to video gaming in Australia, rightly came out on top in AO Tennis. Macnamara is the home of video gaming in Melbourne. We have some amazing local producers and local stories, and I was proud to represent them on the court in that Parliamentary Friends of Video Games competition.

Last week, the member for Gellibrand and I visited one of these amazing local producers, Big Ant Studios. Big Ant is a great local story. It started as a small operation with a few developers and it has consistently grown and grown because of the quality of Australian gaming. The quality of the product that Big Ant are producing means that they have grown and grown. They were recently acquired by French company Nacon, which is a reflection of the quality of the product that Big Ant have been producing. Some of the great games that Big Ant boast are the Rugby League Live series, the Don Bradman Cricket and Ashes Cricket series, the Australian Open, AO Tennis series—which I played and defeated the member for Gellibrand in—and many others. Ross Symons is the founder and is now the managing director or CEO of Big Ant. He is also a Carlton supporter, which I really respect and like about him. Big Ant are also now a major sponsor of the Carlton AFL women's team. So they are giving back to women's sport and they really are a part of the Australian sporting landscape. Walking through there and meeting some of the employees and seeing them turn the member for Gellibrand and me into video game characters was just brilliant. It was great to see the technology, the sophistication, no-how and skills of these local workers and local talents in our Australian gaming industry.

Macnamara also has a number of others. We also have Sledgehammer Games, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision, one of the world's biggest gaming companies. They have an office in San Francisco and also an office in Melbourne. Some of the well-known titles include Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty WWII, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare2, which is partly developed in Melbourne. The Arcade is the first not-for-profit collaborative workspace created specifically for game developers and creative companies, and they're based in South Melbourne. Also, PlaySide Studios is based in Port Melbourne, another of Australia's largest video game companies, and they can boast titles as Jumanji: Epic Run, The Lego Batman Movie and the Dumb Ways to Die series. So Macnamara clearly is the home of video gaming in Australia, but one thing that's coming loud and clear from the industry is that a little bit of support by government can turn into a whole lot of economic activity. If Australia is to compete on the international market of gaming, especially with the likes of Canada and other countries which are incentivising games, Australia needs to do better. Quite frankly, this government is not really supporting the industry as much as it could. A little bit of government investment would go a long way to create jobs and help build this wonderful local industry.

Debate adjourned.

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