Labor & Greens Commitments

Screen Producers Australia CEO, Matthew Deaner has welcomed the recent announcements from the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens who have both responded to ongoing calls from the production community for funding to our public broadcasters and federal screen agency.

Labor's pledge of more than $160 million in arts funding is a strong commitment, containing a much needed boost of $60 million to ABC for the production of new independent Australian television drama. This comes at a critical time with the full effects of recent budget cuts to the ABC likely to hit in the coming year, said Mr Deaner.

Labor's policy follows the announcements from the Greens which calls for Screen Australia's funding to be restored after more than $50 million in cuts over the last 18 months across the forward estimates.

By targeting an investment in ABC and Screen Australia both Labor and the Greens are supporting thousands of jobs in the independent production sector, and most importantly they are ensuring that the Australian people continue to have access to great Australian stories.

These policies reflect a great partnership with independent producers and the ABC, as demonstrated by the launch of Cleverman last week and the return of favourite's like Rake, Janet King, The Doctor Black Mysteries, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and The Code among others.

Furthermore, the restoration of Screen Australia's funding will also flow into documentaries, children's and feature films which all form the foundations of our vibrant industry, said Mr Deaner.

In May, Screen Producers Australia and other industry partners released our joint policy priorities. In it we called on Government and all major parties to ensure secure, sufficient and transparent funding for ABC, SBS and Screen Australia.

In addition, we also called for ambitious and deliverable policies to address the lack of competitive tax offsets as well as fair and balanced obligations for broadcasting and online content delivery services operating in Australia.

We must not take our success for granted and much work has to be done if we are to continue to succeed. There is much at stake.

We need to see screen policy positions and frameworks from all political parties that are ambitious and deliverable in order to ensure our industry's ongoing health and success. We look forward to see what further policies will be announced in the second half of this campaign, said Mr Deaner.

Download the joint production industry policy proposal.

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Media enquiries:

Matthew Hancock, Screen Producers Australia | Mobile: 0408 975 982 | Email:

matthew.hancock@screenproducers.org.au

LINK:	https://screenproducers.org.au/news/statement-from-screen-producers-au...
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