Screen Producers Australia (SPA) and the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) have outlined their priorities in relation to the government’s National Cultural Policy, with the former reiterating its position on streaming regulation and the latter calling for a wage increase for arts workers and renewed investment in the sector.
Submissions for the strategy were due on Monday, with Arts Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland hoping to unveil updated measures before the end of the year.
It’s the third time in as many years that screen industry bodies have been asked to have their say on the direction of the sector, having gone back and forth with the previous government via the media reform green paper and the subsequent Streaming Services Reporting and Investment Scheme.
As part of the National Cultural Policy submission process, all arts sector stakeholders were asked to shape their recommendations around the five pillars of First Nations, A Place for Every Story, The Centrality of the Artist, Strong Institutions, and The Centrality of the Artist.
Key focuses for SPA include the introduction of a terms of trade framework to ensure proprietary ownership is retained in the creation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories and that screen businesses, in general, are able to operate sustainably and not be “disadvantaged by the business practices of global corporate interests”.
Elsewhere in its submission, the organisation called for a review of Screen Australia and other screen bodies funded primarily by the Federal Government to ensure each best supports the industry amid a changing landscape; an update of the country’s co-production system in relation to bilateral arrangements with European member stages under the AUS-EU FTA; a rewriting of the Broadcasting Services Act and clarification of Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) objectives; improved sharing of audience demographic data; new regulatory reforms around prominence that encompass all platforms; and a review of Australia’s existing external strategy to market our screen products.
Outside of the pillars, it has also called for screen industry capacity issues and environmental sustainability to be addressed as part of the National Cultural Policy.
It is under A Place for Every Story, however, that SPA believes the most urgent action is required, with the submission again voicing its support for regulation that would require 20 per cent of major streaming platform’s Australian revenue be invested in local commissions.
“There are several important screen policy settings where SPA believes urgent regulatory action is needed, and others where SPA recommends reviews to address the regulatory drift and policy inaction of the past decade,” SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said.
“The highest priority for SPA members is that we see new regulation to ensure global streaming platforms invest 20 per cent of their subscriber revenue in new Australian stories.
“Regulation of streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon has sat idle on government’s ‘to-do’ lists for the last 10 years, hence SPA welcoming the public commitment by the Arts Minister Tony Burke to take proactive steps to move the industry forward.”
Like SPA, the MEAA is also advocating for a local content levy of 20 per cent to be imposed on streaming services of scale at the earliest opportunity, with a portion of the funds to be put towards “vulnerable” genres, such as children’s live-action drama.
Other screen-related measures consist of enhanced funding for Screen Australia’s Story Development and First Nations Features Productions programs in order to give the agency greater certainty and, more broadly, a rules-based order to guard against exploitation of cultural workers.
MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley noted Federal Government support for artistic and cultural endeavours had fallen by 17 per cent over the 13 years to 2020, with federal per capita cultural expenditure declining from $138.71 to $107.20.
“It is little wonder that the number of workers in the arts and entertainment sector has been static for decades,” she said.
“A new policy must strive to provide financial and policy certainty. Creative workers – whether in the arts or media sectors – require engagement and respect.
“A new cultural policy must acknowledge and address the vulnerability of the cultural workforce, many of whom earn less than the national minimum wage each year for their arts-related work.”