George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, thank you Mr Deputy Speaker for calling on me to bring a prop. For the purposes of the Hansard: I am wearing a large Tom Baker scarf. I also thank the member for Mitchell and the members for Moreton and Fraser for speaking on this motion, which is one which I hope enjoys bipartisan support, given the fans across the chamber.

Fifty years ago this Saturday, two historical events occurred. The first was the tragic news of the assassination of John F Kennedy. The other was the first screening of the British Broadcasting Corporation science fiction series Doctor Who. A bit of trivia: the first screening of Doctor Who was actually delayed by the news of the US President's death at the time. Doctor Who was marketed as an educational show. The first story, called 'An Unearthly Child', introduced us to the Doctor, as he is called; not 'Doctor Who' as is traditionally thought but 'the Doctor'. He was an old, gruff, eccentric man who was in fact an alien being to our planet. We were also introduced to his granddaughter and two of her schoolteachers who were whisked away in this strange blue police box to the year 100,000 BC where they interacted with some cavemen—and that was the educational aspect of the show, that they would go back in time, looking to see what happened in the past. In fact, that strange blue Police public call box was a machine that travelled in time and space—anywhere throughout time and space. The very next story took the characters to an alien planet, Skaro, where they met the Daleks for the first time. The Daleks became almost synonymous with the show and that is true to this very day—in fact, that probably made the show what it is, because it scared the hell out of a lot of kids throughout Britain and elsewhere. For five decades, the show Doctor Who has enthralled audiences right across the world, particularly in the Anglosphere, with Australia being one of those countries where the enthralment has occurred.

There are a lot of links between Doctor Who and Australia that people are not aware of. In fact, I have left out of the terms of the motion a crucial link that I want to state from the outset. That link is that one of the architects behind the concept of the show was a fellow by the name of CE 'Bunny' Webber, as they called him. CE 'Bunny' Webber helped Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman, the other two people behind the show, to come up with the entire concept for Doctor Who. CE Webber was an Australian. He came up with the plot of the first story, which was then written in full by another Australian, Anthony Coburn. So the very concept of Doctor Who was formed with the help of an Australian; the very first episode of Doctor Who was written by an Australian; and, more than that, the famous theme tune—the 'dum de dum, dum de dum—'

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to see Hansard record that one!

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I won't go further.

An honourable member: Sing it!

I could if you want, but we have only got ten minutes. That theme tune was actually written and composed by an Australian, Ron Grainer.

It is absolutely fantastic that there are so many links between our country and Doctor Who. But it has not stopped there. As is outlined in my motion, there are also plenty of Doctor Who actors who have links to Australia: Janet Fielding, who is an Australian, played an Australian character in the TV show playing opposite both Tom Baker and also, mainly, Peter Davison, who portrayed the Doctor at that time during the 1980s. There is also Katy Manning, who went on to become an Australian citizen. She was married to Barry Crocker, and she played the character Jo Grant back in the 1970s, opposite the Doctor as portrayed by Jon Pertwee. The member for Mitchell told me to add this, and it is an interesting bit of trivia: the Australian horse racing icon and our Melbourne cup winner, Gai Waterhouse, portrayed the character of Presta in the Doctor Who episode 'The Invasion of Time', also in the 1970s opposite Tom Baker. More recently, Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has played the character of Astrid in the new series, opposite the Doctor as portrayed by David Tennant, in the Christmas special 'Voyage of the Dammed'. There is a myriad of connections between this show and our nation. In fact, there is one thing I neglected to mention about Anthony Coburn: not only can he be credited with writing the first story but it is also believed that it was Coburn's idea for the TARDIS to resemble a police box—simply because he saw one in the street outside his office when he was writing the story and thought, what a nifty British institution to put in this show. There are so many connections between Australia and this show, not only behind the scenes but also in the series. Sadly for us—I think it is sometime in the year 200,100 A.D.— we actually get wiped out by the Daleks, so that is something to look forward to in the future!

Seriously, though, all of this culminates in what I think is a good request to the BBC to consider bringing Doctor Who to Australia. In the year 2015 we will mark our 50th anniversary of the show first appearing on Australian screens—15 January 2015. That is an opportune point in history that the BBC could bring Doctor Who down under. Just as they have taken it over to the US, just as they have taken it to many places throughout Europe, they could take Doctor Who to Australia.

There has been some support for that at the very top. In fact, one of the Doctor Who executive producers, Caroline Skinner, was asked about this in London late last year and she said she would consider it, obviously not for the next series but it would be something in the future. She was accompanied by the current Doctor Who, Matt Smith at the time, who said he thought it would be pretty cool to come to Australia and do the filming. Recently there has been an interview with the main man, chief executive producer Steven Moffat, who said, 'Well, maybe we could, maybe not.' Australia is pretty similar to the UK in terms of its settings but I have got to say, imagine the TARDIS landing near the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in the Australian outback, Uluru, Ayers Rock. Think of all the exotic locations we could have. Canberra is certainly an exotic location for many Australians. But there is a bit of vested electoral interest in that I would hope that if we are able to secure something like that they could bring the TARDIS to the Whitsundays, where we have had experience before in filming major Hollywood motion pictures and also the great Baz Luhrmann film Australia. That is one of my hopes.

In the lead-up to this 50th anniversary of Doctor Who there are so many connections between this show and this nation that I think Doctor Who is as much an Australian institution as it has been a British institution. In the lead-up to this debate there have been lots of MPs who have approached me telling me the same thing over and over, that when they were a kid they used to hide behind the couch and build cushion fortresses to protect themselves from whatever was on the screen, and they loved the show. They remembered it fondly like that. Now with the new series a new generation of children are learning the same thing. It is great to have that show still on the air. It is great to have the Australian connection with it, but I think a greater Australian connection could come if a series were actually filmed down under. I am really hopeful that they will do that. There are precedents for the ABC contributing, and for the 20th anniversary they put some money into it. As the motion states, I would encourage the ABC to consider that, and organisations such as Screen Australia and other film funding and tourism bodies throughout the different states here in Australia. If we can jag this, it will be of immense benefit to both the arts world here in Australia and also tourism.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sorry that I do not have a Tom Baker scarf to present this speech. I am proud to support the member for Dawson's motion. I grew up in country Queensland where we only had the ABC, so Doctor Who was a big part of my life. I guess there is a renaissance of Doctor Who. Most Doctor Who fans can be broken up into the earlier group of doctors and then the later group of doctors. I think the member for Mitchell might be in the later group. I know even my young son likes the new Doctor Who. I see the excitement about the new episode that is coming up and is being televised all around the world I think on Sunday, 24 November at 5.50 am Queensland time. There will be a lot of people staying up all around the world to watch this and there will be live coverage. The ABC will set up a 24-hour-a-day Doctor Who radio station, if you have a digital radio, where Spencer Howson from Brisbane will be one of the experts talking about Doctor Who. There will be 12-hour loops of interviews and discussions with Doctor Who actors and experts. One of my brothers, Nicholas, is a Doctor Who tragic. He knows all about the new episode and I am sure he will be switching on to it.

As the member for Dawson pointed out, there are many connections with Australia. I will not repeat the ones in the motion and already mentioned by the member for Dawson but I touch on some other ones. The Australian actor Robert Jewell played the Chief Dalek in the 1960s before playing a cameo as Bing Crosby in the series 'The Daleks' Master Plan'. His daughter Sandy now lives in Chermside in Brisbane. The member for Dawson did mention one of our very talented exports, the actor Janet Fielding, who played an Australian character, Tegan Jovanka, alongside the doctor. I am going to quote from one amusing scene that someone from North Queensland might take an interest in where Janet Fielding asks about the zero room where the doctor goes to regenerate. Tegan says, 'What is a zero room anyway? The doctor said something about null interfaces.' Nyssa responds, 'I suppose it is some sort of neutral environment, an isolated place cut off from the rest of the universe.' Tegan replies, 'He should have told me. If that is what he wanted, I could have shown him Brisbane.' That is a slur on the city I represent but quite amusing.

My earliest memories of Doctor Who, which started a year before I was born, are of being scared despite the dodgy special effects and dodgy costumes, props and sets. I do remember being scared by it. Even though it is a very British show with the London police box the TARDIS, its messages are obviously universal. I was interested to hear the member for Dawson say that it started off as an educational show. It is a British show but with universal messages. I want to refer to one particular episode, called 'The Green Death', and, just in case the member for Melbourne is listening, this is not linked to the 44th Parliament. It is actually about an oil refinery that ignores basic environmental practices and causes the deaths of a few miners and creates a new disease that is transferred by giant killer maggots, which then become a threat to humanity. The super computer mastermind behind the whole thing is linked to a bunch of corporations with significant capital sunk into the project and therefore with a lot of self-interest. Fortunately, leaders in our society today are much wiser and they would not stick their heads in the sand when Earth was worried about significant threats to the safety of the environment and the human race. Obviously, the doctor saved the day then and, hopefully, that will continue to be the case as humanity works out the right thing to do. The member for Dawson outlined the many Australians involved in the production of the Dr Who series—and he capably indicated the Dr Who theme—and it is telling that the member for Dawson has asked for the production to move to Australia, particularly to Queensland.

We do have a fine history of making films in Queensland, particularly in North Queensland. I will not mention the film made near my wife's home town of Babinda, called Turkey Shoot, because that would not be appropriate, but there are great films like The Thin Red Line and The Pacific, all filmed in North Queensland. I mention them because they are classic American stories told in Australia. They are American stories with Australian talent—Australian cinematographers and Australian production crews help to tell those stories. I think the member for Dawson touched on the call for the ABC to support the production of Dr Who coming here, because I think it is essential that we be able to tell Australian stories. We are such a small audience in terms of global consumers of media, but we have to have our skills used to tell other stories. It could be telling a British story like Dr Who; it could even be an Australian director like Baz Luhrmann telling a quintessential American story like The Great Gatsby, but it is still called an Australian story. It is only when we look after and nurture the talents like people like Baz Luhrmann and those who shoot a great film like The Great Gatsbythat we can then tell those other Australian stories—and not just stories that can only be told in Australia like Ten Canoes or Samson and Delilahbut those other stories that reflect the modern Australia. I am thinking of a movie like The Rocket, set in Laos, telling a Laotian story with Australian talent helping to tell that story. It is essential that we fight the rest of the world to have their productions filmed here—not for a few cultural crumbs thrown our way by Britain or America, but because we will be able to tell our stories with the skills from major overseas productions. The reality is a high Australian dollar, and it is a horrible factor for Australian film companies. We now have studios and equipment being shipped off to Taiwan and South Africa. Screen Australia is doing what it can to show our expertise. We still win Oscars because of our expertise, but the reality is that we are competing with other countries that give offsets that we cannot compete with. I am saying this to the current government as much as I said it to the governments of the 43rd and 42nd parliaments. The reality is that we need to have greater incentives to come here. There is no point in saying that we will have the producers' offsets if we do not have productions taking place in Australia. I know that Australian cinematographers, production assistants, script writers and musicians can hold it with the rest of the world, but if there is not enough incentive for them to work here they will go overseas. They will win Oscars for other countries' stories being told with Australian talent. That is the reality.

I fully support the call from the member for Dawson. This seems like a perfect opportunity for cloud funding for a production of Dr Who. There would not be any conflict of interest. I am sure I would not have to go to the member for Dawson's electorate and buy an investment property. We could just fund this; we could start the process by calling them to come to Australia. Australia has the oldest, continuous culture and civilisation in the world and so what better place for a Time Lord to come to? Here we can combine the old with the new. Australia is that classic country for Dr Who. We are the driest continent, so there are the challenges of climate change, but we also have other great settings. I can imagine the TARDIS landing in front of the Sydney Opera House and other iconic places around the Great Barrier Reef. I can imagine Dr Who coming up with a story that combines the past with the future—which he does so often. It is the classic narrative device that works so well with Dr Who: he puts up a mirror to where we are now by looking at where we were and where we will be. It is a good device for all of humanity. I commend the member for Dawson for bringing this motion to the chamber.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is certainly worth this motion coming before the parliament just to hear the Clerk say 'the 50th anniversary of Dr Who'. I want to congratulate the member for Dawson on this worthwhile motion, which has a very serious aspect—that is in supporting the Australian film industry and bringing a great world-impacting TV show to Australia for filming. I do want to support the member for Moreton's remarks that this is a bipartisan motion. I am a fellow Whovian; I am from the Tom Baker vintage generation but I am a modern man. Like other members in this chamber, I have the Dalek app on our phones or our iPad, where you can have your voice appear like a Dalek. It is a great app; I highly recommend it to members in this place.

The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who is a remarkable chance for us to reflect on the synergy between Australia and this great production. In his motion, the member for Dawson has gone through all of the iconic people who have appeared in Doctor Who, including Kylie—you cannot get more iconic than Kylie—and our recent Melbourne Cup winner, Gai Waterhouse. I do think, in a bipartisan spirit, that both the member for Dawson and the member for Moreton would have made good 12th doctors—they both look like a doctor. Certainly, the choice of Peter Capaldi, who played 'Malcolm Tucker', as the new Doctor shows that the producers were looking for someone political. So both of you would have had a really good chance for the role if you had put your names forward. The Labor Party would have a lot to learn from Dr Who. I am sure they would all like to hop into the Tardis, jump back a few years and have an episode centred around the leadership turnovers. Certainly they tried regeneration at the last election, which was a dismal failure.

This is a bipartisan motion. I want to take up the member for Moreton's reference to the educational aspect of Doctor Who. It has been pointed out to me that there was a very educational episode called 'The Sun Makers',where an evil little green creature called the 'Controller', controlled the government and the weather. He taxed the population very, very harshly just to make the sun come up. 'The Sun Makers' was an educational and inspirational episode and ahead of its time.

Great things in this show have come out of Australia, including its music. The iconic Doctor Who tune, which is known around the world, was composed by an Australian. We should be pretty proud of that. We should be proud of the fact that from the very first story, the very beginning of this worldwide phenomenon, there has been a great Australian influence.

In relation to the serious side of the member for Dawson's motion, the 11th doctor, Matt Smith, said that it would be a good idea to shoot an episode in Australia, with the story being set in the Outback. This takes up the member for Dawson's suggestion that our ancient culture and continent would be a perfect setting for Doctor Who in its 50th year and with a new Doctor. I am sure that we would all love to meet the character who played 'Malcolm Tucker'. There is something to learn from him.

As someone who has watched countless episodes of Doctor Who, I am very happy to be called a Whovian. The imagination of those episodes have had a big impact on me. The member for Moreton talked about the special effects. I think he referred to the 'dodgy special effects'. We all understand that it was never about the special effects. There is nothing like a good story. I guess I am old enough to understand the difference between a story well told and a special effect. I know that all of the generations below me—including the member for Longman—would not have any idea of what I am talking about. But a good story is better than every good special effect that you can put together—and we must uphold good storytelling in this country. We have got great stories to tell from our culture and they would make a great series for Doctor Who. A great set of episodes could be made in one of the oldest continents on the planet. I have no hesitation in recommending and endorsing the member for Dawson's motion. I think we should encourage the producers to look at Australian history and at the great contributions made by so many of our senior figures, including Kylie Minogue, who is world renowned. We could get all of the Australian actors who were involved in Doctor Who episodes to appear in a rehashed series. I am coming up with suggestions on the run! We could get all of the Australians who appeared in previous Doctor Who episodes to appear again. We could even get the member for Moreton and the member for Dawson to appear as extras! They might put the member in as an extra—especially with that scarf.

I have no hesitation in endorsing this motion. I hope that the producers, the BBC and the ABC take this motion seriously and for what it is intended to be—a great endorsement of Australian culture and history.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the spirit of bipartisanship that pervades this debate, let me acknowledge the members for Moreton, Mitchell and Dawson for their fine speeches before me. It clearly proves that sci-fi nerdom is a bipartisan gene. The next series of Doctor Who should be filmed in Australia and, indeed, it should be filmed right here, in Canberra, because what better setting to host an attack of the cybermen, the Daleks or the Slitheen than the 'Shine Dome', the home of the Australian Academy of Science, colloquially referred to around town as the 'Martian embassy'.

The member for Dawson has done a terrific job in his motion of highlighting a range of connections with Doctor Who to Australia. I might also point out another one from one of my electors, Peter Martin, that Doctor Whoproducer Verity Lambert, who essentially set up the program, came to Australia many years later in the 1980s to film 'Evil Angels' in the Central Desert. Peter Martin also points out that several of the lost tapes for the early episodes, which had been binned by the BBC and assumed to be lost forever, were actually found in Australia, archived by the ABC. The love of Doctor Who also extends to Senator Conroy. One can go on Twitter and look at the twitter account, @ConroyMO, which features not Senator Conroy's face but the logo of a Dalek.

Doctor Who turned many Australian kids onto science and technology. It made science 'cool', and in recent episodes it has broadened that discussion to ethics through 'Torchwood'. There are many pieces of advice from Doctor Who which are sage for this government. In season 2, episode 2, the Doctor said: 'You want weapons? They're in the library—books. The best weapons in the world.' It is good advice for a government which is cutting back on science. For those of us who are perhaps mourning a government that fell too short, in season 3, episode 6, the Doctor says: 'Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It's not the time that matters; it's the person.'

I put the call out on Twitter for suggested episodes which one might mention in this debate. @joshgans suggested 'The Green Death', which is about an attempt to effect a corporate takeover that will lead to greater pollution and brainless, brainwashed humans. The member for Moreton has mentioned that one. @davstorm75 suggested 'The Daleks' Master Plan', in which the action takes in the world of Kembel, a place where, as the Doctor says, 'The atmosphere outside is entirely poisonous'—something that I hope this government will avoid in its public relations. @bilbo_fraggins suggested the early Doctor Who episode, 'The Meddling Monk', which focuses on a monk who liked to meddle in history, lending mechanical assistance to, for example, the builders of Stonehenge, despite that clearly not being needed. @acaderama suggested the 'Genesis of the Daleks', in which the species sees the introduction of Davros, who will ultimately terrorise not only his planet but other species. @StrangeBrew55 suggested 'Aliens of London'—this was a favourite—in which the Slitheen take over the government. They look innocuous, initially, and are terribly popular until it turns out that, in fact, what they want to do is take over the planet. The episodes featured that simultaneously awful and compelling line: 'What's the use of school league tables if we can't use them to decide which children to get rid of?'. @JamesTeach suggested the 'Monster of Peladon', in which a power struggle bisects the miners and the government, with the workers left off to the side.

There is much fruit here. Certainly my own childhood experience, in which the only half-hour of TV I had each day was Dr Who, has made me a lifelong lover of this series and one who believes that the lessons of Dr Who writ large can not only benefit the film industry, as the member for Moreton so articulately put it but can perhaps one of these days give us a better government. I commend the motion to the House.

Debate adjourned.