Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Who are we as Australians if we can't tell our own stories? Who are we as Australians if we don't know our own stories? Who are we as Australians if we don't have an industry of creatives—of screenwriters, playwrights and actors? Who are we if we can't tell own stories?

Australian stories matter. I grew up watching Play School and Humphrey B Bear, The Henderson Kids and BMX Bandits, or, when mum and dad didn't notice, sneaking in to watch A Country Practiceseeing Australian faces, hearing Australian voices, watching Australian stories. It would be a tragedy if the generations to come don't get to grow up watching Australian stories and hearing Australian voices. That's why content rules matter. Australian content has an economic impact. It supports small businesses. It supports individuals to pursue their craft. It builds an economic echosphere in Australia around film and TV production. But Australian content rules are more than an economic question. They're actually about the soul of a country and the content of a country and how we depict ourselves, how we know ourselves, how we portray ourselves to the rest of the world.

It matters that we have a vibrant and diverse film and television industry in Australia. It matters for how we see ourselves and it matters for how others see us. We don't want a generation of Australian children growing up thinking that everyone speaks with an American accent, or not having any understanding of some of Australia's history because they haven't seen it portrayed on their phones, their iPads or whatever devices they'll be watching in the next 20 or 30 years. That's why Australian content matters. It's an ethical thing, it's a moral thing, it's a cultural thing about making sure that we are protecting and projecting Australian stories, Australian voices and Australian faces. That's why I'm proud to be part of the Labor Party. We are taking a stance to say we won't be party to dismantling screen content rules. As I said, it is those rules that mean that we have an Australian screen industry. It's those rules that mean that we can tell our stories to ourselves and to the world.

It's beyond time that this government put forward an actual package of reforms to parliament to deal with the changing nature of film and television, to deal with screening via streaming services and to deal with the difference between free-to-air television and paid television. We need a package of reforms that comprehensively deals with the world we're in, that deals with where we're moving to and that preserves those precious Australian stories. It was 2017 when then Minister Fifield announced a broad-ranging and comprehensive review of Australian and children's content, saying that the review would 'identify sustainable policies to ensure the ongoing availability of Australian and children's content to domestic and international audiences, regardless of platform'. But, in June 2021, there's nothing to modernise Australian content obligations for the contemporary media environment, which now includes video streaming platforms.

The problem with this bill is that it proposes to halve Foxtel's Australian screen content obligation without putting anything in its place. There's no requirement, for example, for streaming services like Netflix to produce Australian content. That's what a federal government is for: to put in, in this context, requirements to protect Australian industry and Australian content. We've seen this government water down Australian screen content rules before, when it comes to commercial free-to-air television broadcasters. In September last year the minister announced changes to the drama, documentary and children's content subquota and Australian content rules for broadcasters. Those changes didn't come before the parliament, but were made by the ACMA at the direction of the minister. The same subquotas were suspended in 2020 as an emergency COVID-19 measure and then reintroduced in watered down form from 1 January this year.

We on this side said at that time these changes would mean fewer Australian stories on our television screens and fewer job opportunities for local creators. In the context of a government that is talking up job creation as part of the economic recovery, it is incomprehensible that apparently job opportunities for local creators don't matter. In the context of a government that likes to talk all the time about Australian values and standing up for Australia, it is incomprehensible that the government doesn't stand up for Australian content, for those very same Australian values, for that very same country to be portrayed in documentaries, television series, films to our citizens and across the world. There has been a profound failure to 'Make It Australian', to pick up that campaign. There has been a profound failure for the creators and for the small businesses that comprise the screen sector. There has been a profound failure for Australians who want more Australian stories.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a constituent. I am pretty privileged to represent an electorate which has a range of amazing creative people in it. I have children's authors like Danielle Binks, I have photograph journalists like Vivienne Zink, and I have Chris Gist, who emailed me. He's been involved in film and television for 30 years and commissioned some of Australia's favourite dramas—Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Jack Irish, The Doctor Blake Mysteries and more. He's worked in Australia and he's worked internationally. As he said to me in his email, he knows how valuable this kind of media is, both for the national audience and as an unparalleled form of national cultural projection. In fact, he just finished shooting an independent feature film on the Mornington Peninsular starring Nadine Garner. I am still a bit upset I didn't know she was in my neck of the woods so I could go and be a fan girl but I have mentioned that to Chris and we are going to sort that out later.

Filming that in the Mornington Peninsula area put a lot of money into the local community as well as creating local content. Chris is concerned, he says to me, that local content is taking yet another knock with federal changes to the relevant legislation. Chris wrote to me, 'Writers and producers, like my wife and I, alongside the broader Australian film and television industry really need your support in stopping the erosion of the content requirements.' He has a number of requests, which I have said to Chris I personally think are eminently sensible: regulation of streaming services—20 per cent of locally sourced revenue should be invested in new Australian content; the retention of the Gallipoli clause to allow feature filmmakers to claim for Aussie story elements shot offshore; and the retention of current expenditure thresholds for feature-length content at $500,000. Chris wrote to me, 'Last September, the Morrison government announced significant changes to local content rules on free-to-air commercial television and introduced a point system that will cause'—and he put the following in bold—'an annual decline in drama production of $100 million.

To maintain the growth in Australia's much-loved screen industry, streaming services need to be required to invest in local content. They have phenomenally well during COVID. Netflix and Amazon Prime earn $1.7 to $2 billion annually from Australian subscribers but year after year pay little tax here in Australia. Based on international precedent,' Chris went on to say, 'streaming services should have to invest at least 20 per cent of their locally sourced revenue in producing new Australian content. This will create 10, 000 jobs and stimulate the economic growth that Minister Fletcher aims for. By comparison, the EU's audio visual media directive pegs local European content at 30 per cent and ensures prominence of those works. This of course needs to be new content and not just the low-cost licensing of tired, old titles. 'Of course,' Chris says, and I join with him, 'we welcome the government's recent announcement that the feature film producer offset will be retained at 40 per cent.' And I interrupt Chris's email to pay some tribute to Bryan Brown and other actors and actresses who came to Canberra to lobby so hard for the government to do that. Chris signed off by saying:

Thanks, Peta, for looking at this. Your backing of Australian stories and storytellers is essential to ensuring our life on screen isn't lost. #MakeItAustralian

So I speak on behalf of Chris and everyone in the industry to say that this government must do more to protect Australian content, and it can start by supporting Labor's amendment to this legislation.

The government has cut ABC funding and reduced funding available for the ABC to invest in Australian content. It's watered down Australian content obligations for commercial TV, and now with this bill the government seeks to halve Foxtel's expenditure obligation. I don't know how that sits with also giving Foxtel $30 million to supposedly put women's sport on television, which was a very narrowcast way to try to promote women's sport. It would have been better to put that into the public broadcaster with a requirement that it promote, as it has done for decades, Australian sport. Also, for streaming providers, there remains no obligation at all.

It's hard to regulate new industries. It's hard to keep up in legislative form with changes to technology. There is no doubt about that. Market conditions are challenging. There is a regulatory disparity between broadcasters and streaming services. But just because something is hard doesn't mean that you keep kicking the can down the road. If something is hard, you roll up your sleeves and you get stuck into it and do it, particularly when it is something that goes to the core of being Australian and that goes to the core of promoting our voice to ourselves and the world.

So I urge this government and the minister to reconsider your position on halving Foxtel's content obligation and, as you go about consulting on future changes, to really listen to the input from the people who work in the industry. Listen to the Chris-es of the world, the independent contractors, the small businesspeople, the actors, the screenwriters, the set producers and the people that work in the industry whose jobs I don't know the titles of. Listen to all of those people who rely on Australian content for their livelihood and who produce Australian content for the cultural wealth of our country. Listen to them, Minister, and act on what they say.

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