On 9 February 2017, the House Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts announced an inquiry into Factors Contributing to the growth and sustainability of the Australian film and television industry.
On 31 March 2017, the AWG made a preliminary submission to the Committee requesting that the Standing Committee consider the following:
- protecting existing local content quotas for scripted television and making quotas platform neutral; and
- ensuring any future refund of licensing fees to the commercial networks comes with an obligation to spend that money on local scripted content; and
- introducing a tax on new streaming services tied to local content quotas and investment in local scripted television production; and
- increasing the producer’s offset for television from 20% to 40%; and
- rejecting the proposed amendments to the copyright law which threaten the livelihoods of Australian writers and dis-incetivise creation and innovation.
Through consultation and collaboration with the Committee and the current government, the AWG will continue to fight for a stronger and more sustainable film and television industry which enables writers and all those engaged within it (not just the producers who are already supported by Screen Australia and the state funding bodies) to better compete for investment and success on the global stage.
