James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week it was a great pleasure to visit the South Australian Film Corporation in my electorate of Sturt. There are many great businesses there, including an Emmy award-winning production company—an award I hope to win one day for my performances in this chamber, much like my predecessor who always came up so short. Serendipitously it was the same day that the government announced the $30 million of new funding to Screen Australia, which I commend Minister Fletcher and the government on, because this is a real game changer for film production and creative industries in my electorate and across the country.

It's a simple reality that, much like the car industry, creative industries are subsidised by every government around the world. As much as I'm a passionate free market capitalist, the reality is that, if we want industries like this, we need to support them in similar ways that all the other governments around the world do, so it's very important that we're providing these production location incentives. It gives a lot of opportunity to young people who are thinking about career pathways in the creative industries and gives them a confidence that there's a future for them in this country. So much talent leaves this country to other parts of the world. That's no longer going to be the case, thanks to these very important funding commitments. I commend the government for making them.