George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, it has been received rapturously, Senator Carr. It is the greatest set of innovations of support to the Australian film industry since the Fraser government introduced sections 10B and 10BA in the 1970s.

I want to take the opportunity to place on record the debt of gratitude which we owe my predecessor in the portfolio, Senator the Hon. Rod Kemp. Although I followed Senator Kemp into the portfolio on 30 January, by the time I became the responsible minister most of the work in relation to the film industry package had been done by him and by officials under his instruction. I particularly thank James Cameron and Peter Young from the department for the extremely high standard of work that they undertook both in the preparation and, currently, in the implementation phase of the film package.

As I said before, this is a package that has been very well received. However, when it was reviewed by the Senate Standing Committee on Economics in its hearings on TLAB5, there were a small number of outstanding issues raised which the government, as Senator Ronaldson foreshadowed, will address. Probably the most vexed of the issues concerned the question of access to the producer rebate. A concern was raised on behalf of the bodies representing independent producers that the accessibility of the rebate to broadcasters that might produce products in-house could have a deleterious effect upon independent producers. In the end, the committee recommended, as Senator Ronaldson foreshadowed, in recommendation 3 that there be a review of the operation of the producer offset scheme in 12 months to ensure that it is not being misused to mitigate the facilitation of a sustainable Australian film production sector, including a vibrant independent sector. In the government amendments that will be moved in committee there will be an amendment moved to mandate that review on a statutory basis.

I take this opportunity to affirm on the part of the government its intention that the independent sector should be beneficiaries of the producer rebate. It has not been the view of the government that eligibility for the rebate should be quarantined only to the independent sector, but it is certainly the view of the government that independent producers should be beneficiaries of the producer rebate. Were it to be the case that in the early months of the operation of the scheme independent producers were missing out, it would be the intention of the government to re-look at the matter. In that regard, might I adopt the language of paragraph 11.47 of the report of the Senate Standing Committee on Economics, which says:

It would be the committee’s expectation that were the availability of the scheme for in-house production to have a detrimental effect on the independent sector then the Government on the basis of that evidence should legislate to restrict the producer offset scheme to independent producers.

That is the intention of the government, and if the empirical evidence suggested that that was the effect then that would be our intention; however, we are not persuaded that the scheme, as devised, will have that effect.

Secondly, the Senate Standing Committee on Economics recommended that there be some amendments to change the definition of a qualifying series for the purpose of animated features, and the government has adopted that recommendation and an amendment to that effect will be moved in the committee stage. Finally, the committee recommended that the current restriction on the Film Finance Corporation co-investing in projects produced in-house continue to apply to funding provided by the new body, the Australian Screen Authority—or, as it will be called after 1 July 2008, Screen Australia. I also indicate that that would be my intention.

With those remarks, I once again thank honourable senators for their contributions to the second reading debate. In particular, I thank those who have been the prime movers in this revolutionary, once-in-a-generation reform of the Australian film industry. I commend the bills to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a second time.