Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move opposition amendment (5) on sheet 1351:

(5) Schedule 1, item 28, page 7 (line 23) to page 8 (line 3), omit the item, substitute:

28 Application of amendments

The amendments made by this Schedule apply in respect of the tax offset under section 376-55 (the producer offset) to films commencing principal photography on or after 1 July 2021.

The opposition also opposes schedule 1 in the following terms:

(1) Schedule 1, item 2, page 4 (lines 14 and 15), to be opposed.

(2) Schedule 1, item 6, page 4 (lines 26 and 27), to be opposed.

(3) Schedule 1, items 9 to 23, page 5 (line 7) to page 7 (line 7), to be opposed.

(4) Schedule 1, item 25, page 7 (lines 11 and 12), to be opposed.

As I indicated in my remarks in the second reading debate, these amendments seek to remove the most damaging parts of this bill. This bill represents, as I indicated, the third stage in a rolling attack by the government on the Australian screen industry. Measure after measure contained in this bill creates circumstances where Australian television programs, Australian films and Australian documentaries will struggle to get off the ground. I point particularly to those parts of the bill that raise the threshold for eligibility from $500,000 to a million dollars. This is a very significant increase, and it means that many small-scale local productions—those productions which do indeed tell Australian stories—will not be able to get off the ground.

We recognise the urgency and importance of passing this bill, and, as Senator Griff pointed out, the way that the bill has been assembled places senators in an invidious position. Do we pass a measure that is desperately needed, that has been banked by the television sector, and, in doing so, pass other measures which film producers and documentary producers tell us are going to be a problem? It's on that basis that Labor is seeking to amend this bill. The amendments before you seek to excise those parts of the bill that would do the most damage. I do ask senators to give consideration to support for these. We're not going to stand in the way of the bill and hold things up, but it would be better for Australian industry—Australian film and television—if the amendments that are before you now were passed.