Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 5) Bill 2021 and particularly to speak in support of the changes to the Australian Screen Production Incentive but also reflect on some of the fine-tuning, as the member for Kingsford Smith has outlined, in relation to corporate insolvencies, particularly for small businesses. I might speak to that first. The laws we introduced in 2020 were designed to ensure that, in the event of insolvency of a small business, we maximised the funds available to creditors. I think all of us in this place, including, I'm sure, the member for Kingsford Smith, who's still on the screen, would agree that we've all seen plenty of times the receivers and the administrators come in to small businesses and charge exorbitant fees that have resulted in the creditors of those businesses getting very little, if anything, out of the proceeds of winding up that business. I fully supported the laws, when we introduced them last year, to ensure that we seek to take some of those costs out of the system and streamline the process so that the creditors who are genuinely owed money by these businesses get as much as possible out of the proceeds of winding up that business and the proceeds don't all finish up in the pockets of the administrators. I think the member for Kingsford Smith was on the committee with me when the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services did the inquiry into impaired loans back in 2014-15 or around then. We saw the activities of some of the banks during the GFC which made it extraordinarily difficult for small businesses to refinance their loans or restructure their loans, when the banks changed their tune in terms of sectors of the economy they wanted to lend to. That actually led to a lot of problems for those businesses and a lot of unnecessary insolvencies.

This debt restructure process goes some way towards assisting to mitigate the impacts of that because it gives the businesses some protection and the time to restructure their debt, restructure their finances and, where they are genuinely a going concern as a result of their ability to restructure, continue in business. That's important because they are leasing a building, nine times out of 10, so the landlords won't miss out. They are employing people, so those people won't lose their jobs and have to find other jobs. If those businesses have to be wound up there may be a bill the government has to pick up through the Fair Entitlements Guarantee for their due entitlements, whether it's for superannuation, long service leave, leave or any of those sorts of things. The notion that we're seeking to streamline the process for small businesses to ensure that we can assist them to restructure both their business and their debt facilities if and when necessary to be able to continue on, if they're a going concern, makes this a critically important piece of legislation. The fact that this bill is tidying up some of those things is a good measure. We all would like to think that we get every piece of legislation perfectly correct when it goes through this place the first time, but sadly that's not always the case, so I fully support these changes.

In relation to the Australian Screen Production Incentive reforms, when I look around our country at some of the wonderful productions that have been made here—not only local productions but also the support and the economic benefits and impact from some of the big-ticket, big-budget movies and features that have been made in Australia over the years—I see the value and the importance of supporting our film and screen industry. I will put on the record that I have an older son who has a very active interest in the film industry and has been involved in a few small projects. We are encouraging small production companies to produce Australian content, whether it's for cinemas, whether it's for the TV screen or whether it's for the streaming services like Netflix, Stan and many others. Those services provide opportunities for Australian producers to tell stories about Australia that show the world what a wonderful country we are but also reflect our culture back to us. For us to be proud of who and what we are as a country is critically important. I think these changes go to the heart of seeking to achieve that.

When I look around the areas where these films or features are produced, I see the economic impact on our local areas: flow-on jobs and money spent at local hardware stores, cafes, restaurants and hotels, which also benefit from encouraging the production of Australian film and television content here. I think that's critically important and it's a part of the equation that maybe we sometimes overlook. We talk about the actors, we talk about the lighting companies, we talk about the sound technicians and we talk about the crew that puts the film together in the post-production houses, which this also touches on. But we forget about all the other stuff outside that that also supports our film industry, or that our film industry supports by going to venues across this country far and wide.

If a film crew goes to a small country town to film a feature or a little documentary, they are going to stay in the local hotel, eat at the local pub or restaurant or go and get coffee at the local cafe. All of those things are critically important and a very good reason why we should encourage the production of more and more Australian content. So I fully support these changes. Silver Wings Films, whose producer, Pamela Collis, and director of photography, Michael Collis, live in my electorate, specialises in Australian and international film production. Hopefully these changes give them even greater incentive to produce here in Australia. Likewise for young film makers like Lark Lee of Lark Lee Films who I met, I think, late last year. She knows my son as well. She's a writer, director and editor and acts in some of the small films that she does. This is an encouragement to people like Lark to get more and more involved in the film industry.

All of these things, when you put them together, create a tremendous incentive for our small-to-medium production companies to grow, develop and produce more Australian content that will benefit not only our actors, writers, producers, cameramen and lighting and technician companies but also the communities where they film these documentaries or features. I commend this bill to the House.

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