Leading lights of Australia’s film and TV industry today urged federal politicians to act to ensure Australian stories continue to be told on Australian screens.
A delegation from the Make it Australian campaign went to Canberra to renew their pleas to maintain the TV children’s and drama quotas, impose local content obligations on streaming services and for proper funding for public broadcasters and screen agencies.
The campaign is spearheaded by the Australian Directors’ Guild, the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and Screen Producers Australia.
It follows an open letter published in March calling for urgent action by many of the biggest names in the industry.
Judy Davis, Richard Roxburgh, Deborah Mailman, Philip Noyce, Gillian Armstrong, Andrew Knight, Ellie Beaumont, Jo Porter, Anita Jacoby and Michael Tear were among today’s delegation.
ADG executive director Kingston Anderson said: “The Australian public are right behind Australian content and the need to tell our stories. They understand how important it is especially for our kids. The screen industry will continue to support this view and we hope that the government will join us in ensuring Australian content on all our screens.”
AWG president Jan Sardi said: “Federal politicians are the custodians of Australian screen stories. They must act now to ensure existing Aussie content rules are first preserved and then extended to cover streaming video on demand services, which are making millions of dollars from the Australian viewing public, without any obligation to invest back into the market they profit from.”
SPA CEO Matt Deaner added: “There is momentum building around the Make it Australian campaign and in particular, extending local content obligations to the new media and streaming services. This momentum comes from industry, the public and today we’re asking the Parliament to join us.”