Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This is very sensitive for the government. They're interjecting, defending Gina Rinehart and defending Clive Palmer because they know they are willing to write cheques for billions of dollars a year to support the fossil fuel industry. We're very happy to have that diesel fuel rebate going to farmers because they are doing it tough. But why do big mining corporations need to be subsidised by the public to buy cheap fuel? At the same time as the government comes in here with a bill that says we are going to cut funding from the creative and film sector, they say, 'We can find billions of dollars in the kitty to take from the public to help Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer buy cheap diesel for their mining trucks.' At this time of climate crisis, when we're looking for ways to make our economy lower emissions, the government says, 'We will spend billions of dollars a year to subsidise the big coal and gas corporations, but we're going to cut money from the creative sector.' That is what this government is about. It is all about priorities, and the priorities of this government are to be nothing more than a bunch of corporate shields for the big coal and gas corporations, many of which make donations to this government.

What is even worse is that at the time that the government comes along and says, 'We've got to cut money going to the creative sector,' they will give billions to the coal and gas corporations, and these coal and gas corporations don't even pay tax. The biggest gas corporations between them brought in $55 billion a year in income in the last recorded year. Do you know how much tax they paid? Zero—zero dollars tax. The government then has the gall to say, 'Not only will we make you pay no tax, but can we give you a handout as well?' But then the government says: 'I'm sorry, there's not enough money for film and television to give them the kind of support they need. There's not enough money for the arts sector to give them the support they need. There's not enough money for education to give them the support they need.' That is because this government does nothing more than the bidding of the coal and gas corporations while everyone else can go hang.

I would have thought, during a pandemic, that the thing to do would be to create employment, and you don't create employment by pulling the rug out from under the creative sector. A job working in the arts should be treated just as importantly by this government as a job in the mines, but it's not—the government does not treat it as importantly. The government says, 'If you're working in the creative sector or you're working in the education sector, you're fair game—we're coming after you.' This government says that they're all about business but they're only for a certain kind of business, and if you happen to work in the arts and creative sector then the government is coming after you.

We see this time and time again. They love to get the photo op with the big Hollywood stars but one-off support to big productions is not the same as systemic support for the screen industry. That's what we need: we need systemic support for the screen industry. Australian audiences deserve to see stories on their screens that reflect the diversity of our community. We need a strong local screen industry to tell our stories. The next step to provide that kind of systemic support and to protect the local industry must be to legislate local content quotas for streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Stan. We need to do that; that has to be the next step.

The Greens have been fighting for the arts and entertainment workers throughout the pandemic. We are also fighting for an arts insurance scheme to underwrite live events that may need to be cancelled due to COVID. But, to conclude, again this government says they're coming along and providing support, but they can't provide support at the same time on one hand without cutting it and taking it with the other. So we will seek to amend this legislation in the Senate so that we can start to provide the kind of support, ongoing and secure, that our creative sectors need.

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