Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That amendments (1) to (6) be agreed to.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak in support of the motion that's just been moved by the Leader of the House. And I want to make clear that what the Leader of the House has just moved is the opposite of what the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts has been arguing all day today and for some time. The bill that's in front of us does a very good thing at the government's initiative, and that is to change the screen producer offset from 20 per cent to 30 per cent for TV production. There is a really good reason why the government came forward with that. Years ago, it would have been the case that the cost per minute of feature film production was way in excess of the cost per minute of producing something for TV. That has changed fundamentally, and now, as we all know from the different shows we've binged on from time to time, the cost of producing television is way in excess of what it used to be. That part of the bill has always been supported by both sides of the House.

The minister for communications had also included some measures that were effectively a tax on small businesses operating within the film sector. That was to change the threshold from half a million dollars to a million dollars for postproduction, effectively for documentary. It was having an impact of composers. It would have meant that, if you were in charge of a very large production, this bill was very good to you, but, if you were a smaller player, you were going to take a hit with small-business tax.

When Labor moved these amendments in the Senate with the support of all the crossbench—including the Greens party, and I acknowledge the leader of the party here now—it didn't even go to a division. But immediately after, the minister was in contact with one film production company after the other, saying, 'You need to stop Labor from doing this.' He put out on Twitter:

Labor's political games are putting the Australian screen production sector at risk.

I call on Labor to provide certainty to Australian businesses and pass our bill as it stands.

The position the minister was saying was putting everything at risk, he's now adopted and the government has now adopted.

I won't detain the House further, because what we have now is a really good outcome for the screen sector, a really good outcome for jobs, a really good outcome for Australian stories being told. I want to thank the Leader of the House for moving the motion and note we could have got here so much earlier had the minister for communications not been determined to look after larger productions and have small businesses take a hit.

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

BANDT (—) (): The Greens support this motion and support these amendments. By standing up to the government, the parliament has just helped save the Australian screen sector and save Australian stories. These are very, very important amendments that the House is now agreeing to, and it shows the critical importance of having a range of voices in this parliament able to hold the government to account.

As the member for Melbourne, as the former arts spokesperson for the Greens, and now as the leader, can I say that one of the ways that we will recover from the pandemic is by growing jobs, growing businesses, growing industries in Australia. That includes the screen sector, and it includes the postproduction sector. We will do that by government getting behind them, not cutting their support.

The government wanted to cut the support that was being given to small production and postproduction companies, effectively targeting documentaries. That would have meant it would be very, very difficult to tell our own stories to ourselves as a country here in Australia. This sector is very reliant on getting the same kind of support that is handed out to the bigger end, but the government wanted to attack the smaller end of the sector. The parliament took the government on, held them to account and said no, and today the parliament has won.

I want to acknowledge the amendments that were moved by the opposition, which the Greens supported. The Greens had similar amendments which we would have moved, but we supported the opposition's amendments. I acknowledge in particular the work of Senator Hanson-Young, who has taken up the fight for the screen sector, the production sector and the postproduction sector in this country and is a big part of the reason that we have now helped save the Australian screen sector and our ability to tell our own stories. This will make a big difference. It will make a huge difference to our culture. It will make a big difference to jobs and to the economic recovery, including in places like Melbourne. It happened because we have a Senate and a parliament that aren't just dominated by the government but have voices that are prepared to hold them to account. When you take the government on, you can win, and today the parliament has had a big win. I support the motion.

Question agreed to.